US rapper Ice Spice was booed off the stage by Aussie fans after she arrived almost 30 minutes late to her New Year’s Eve gig in Queensland.
The “Munch” singer was due to perform at the Wildlands Festival at Brisbane Showgrounds on Tuesday evening, but she rocked up to the venue 25 minutes late for her 30-minute performance despite being the headline act.
When she finally did hit the stage, the 25-year-old further angered fans when her microphone was turned off by event organizers just five minutes into her set to make way for the next artist amid the looming 12:30 a.m. curfew.
As the stage was quickly cleared, Ice Spice – real name Isis Gaston – appeared to continue performing, but nothing could be heard.
She then began pacing up and down to a chorus of boos before eventually flashing a peace sign to the crowd and marching from the stage.
Video of her performance is now doing the rounds on social media.
Given some fans travelled up to six hours to the venue and paid upwards of $350 per ticket, they were not happy with the rapper’s brief appearance, venting their frustrations on social media.
“She is getting paid to show up and perform, probably a lot of money, and she’s late? Entitled,” one tweeted on X.
“Can someone explain to me how/why artists are late for their sets at a festival? They’re usually at the festival all day so like what makes them late?” another said.
“That’s embarrassing for Ice Spice, that’s what you get for arriving late to the job,” another said.
Wildlands Festival organizers have since responded to fans’ comments on Instagram, explaining their decision to cut Ice Spice’s performance short.
“We understand that Ice Spice’s delayed arrival caused some disappointment. Managing a stacked festival means that we have to be extremely firm with set times,” the post read.
“We had a strict curfew of 12:30 and need to ensure that the final act went on stage on time, so everyone could enjoy the New Year’s Eve countdown”.
There was no explanation needed for some fans who praised the organizers for enforcing the strict timelines.
“Honestly iconic of the organizers to enforce the schedule and not just let her lateness make everything else run later,” one wrote on X with others echoing:
“She’s disrespectful, so good on Wildlands.”
“Them pulling the plug on her was iconic.”
