The singer was scheduled to headline Made in America with SZA on September 2 and 3 at Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway, but the event has already been canceled.
The organizers apologized on Twitter for the last-minute postponement, saying, “Due to severe circumstances beyond our control, the 2023 Made In America festival will no longer take place.”
“This was a difficult decision not made lightly or without great thought.”
According to organizers, it “has a legacy of delivering exceptional experiences for music fans and concertgoers, and it is our commitment always to deliver a top-tier festival experience.”
Ticketholders will be “refunded at the point of purchase,” and the annual event will return to Philadelphia in 2024.
Since 2012, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation has been in charge of the event. The event has only been canceled once since its start because of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020.
SZA and Lizzo were scheduled to perform, as well as Latto, Coco Jones, Ice Spice, Miguel, Tems, Metro Boomin, CoiLera, Lil Yachty, Doechii, Lola Brooke, and others.
The statement announcing the festival’s postponement did not mention the Truth Hurts singer’s continuing legal crisis.
Three of Lizzo’s former backup dancers accused her of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment last week.
The plaintiffs, Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez, allege that the singer commented about their weight and harassed them.
The dancers, who appeared on Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls on Amazon Prime, also claimed the singer, real name Melissa Viviane Jefferson, pressured them to touch a nude performer in an Amsterdam strip club and invited “cast members to take turns touching the nude performers” as well as participate in explicit parts of the strip show.
The ladies reportedly accused Lizzo of bringing them to a nude cabaret bar in Paris without divulging the nature of the club, depriving “them of the choice not to participate” in the night.
In response to the case, Lizzo said she was “not the villain.”
“I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days,” Lizzo stated in a social media message.
“I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself, but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not.”
