Burna Boy suffers US humiliation as fans refuse to buy tickets in protest of his recent action

NIGERIAN Grammy Award-winning musician Burna Boy has suffered an unprecedented humiliation in the US as organisers were forced to cancel a show he had planned in Minneapolis today because fans refused to buy tickets.

In 2021, Burna Boy won a Grammy for his album Twice As Tall, making him the first Nigerian to win the award at just his second attempt. Twice As Tall, Burna Boy’s fifth studio album, was adjudged one of the best to be recorded by the Port Harcourt-born artist, whose real name is Damini Ogulu.

Now a globally recognised superstar, Burna Boy regularly fills venues across Europe and the US and is even invited as a guest artist at official functions. Today, he was due to perform at The Armory in Minneapolis but the show was abruptly cancelled after fans failed to buy tickets in protest at his recent decision to expel a couple from one of his shows.

Although the tour organisers failed to provide a specific reason for the cancellation, there was a lot of public criticism directed at Burna Boy after he walked out a couple for sleeping during his performance at Colorado.  Today’s show was thus cancelled as Burna Boy could not perform in an empty hall but his US show has not been scrapped, with another concert scheduled for December 1 in Chicago.

Ticketmaster announced the last minute cancellation of the Minneapolis concert on its website yesterday. It came as a video of Burna Boy went viral, showing dismissing a couple from a previous show for sleeping during his performance.

It was later reported that the woman who slept during his performance was grieving a recent personal loss. Burna Boy received harsh criticism for his action, with one commentator saying he only wants supporters who buy his tickets and not fans.

Burna Boy was awarded the Nigerian national honour the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic for his achievements in music and in 2023, Rolling Stone ranked him number 197 on its list of the 200 greatest singers of all time. Online, he is also a huge success as last year, Burna Boy became the first African artist to have two albums get over 1bn streams on Spotify.