Asim Azhar and Hassan Raheem, two popular Pakistani musicians that get the whole nation moving, have criticized the Summer Jam Colour Fest event's organizers on social media. Asim Azhar dubbed the organizers as a scam, he wrote:
“Summer Jam Colour Fest is a scam and the organizers are fraud. Please get your refunds on all tickets and sponsorships. And PLEASE BEWARE OF ANY FUTURE EVENTS BY THEM. Due to nonpayment, fraud and lack of commitment from the organizers, we won’t be performing tonight in Islamabad.”
He also said that he and his team will take legal action against the organisers for the fraud and also apologized for the inconvenience.
Hassan Raheem also stood up and shared a story on his Instagram account: “Really sad about the whole situation. I apologise to all people who came out to have a good time tonight. We weren’t paid by the organizers on time, Kindly get refunds from Summer Jam Colour Fest. We’ll be taking legal action against them for wasting everyone’s time and money. And love all of you who came out tonight.”
As per reports, the organizers have denied the allegations and said: “We have been in this industry for the past five years and have organized the biggest shows in Islamabad and Lahore with the same artists and others. This was our fifth event with the artist and we have consistently fulfilled our commitment with him in every event. The disregard of past work and relation with the organizers expressed by the artist/artist manager is particularly disappointing.”
They then mentioned the third party involvement and asked: “Majority of the artist payments were made to the third party dealing with it. Hence, the allegations of nonpayment are absolutely false. Should the organizers also demand refund of the amount that was already paid to the artists?”
The organizers even mentioned the arrangement: “For the little amount that was left, the artists agreed on being paid in cheque backstage that could be cashed the next morning. Despite this agreement, when the senior management left the backstage to get the cheque, the artists’ managers got on to the stage and made an announcement of not performing.”
Also, “We consider the use of term ‘fraud’ as defamatory and unfounded. We had every intent to pay the artist and it was communicated to the managers as well. All the other artists that performed are a proof that we stand by our commitment. When the event was postponed due to weather conditions in July, every single person was refunded because we keep the best interest of our audience at heart. All these things are a proof of our credibility,” they mentioned.