UPDATED 9:20 p.m. ET: In a statement to Los Angeles Times, Cherif said that Cardi B's management was in on Offset's stunt and denied that Rolling Loud's organizers had anything to do with it. He also "share[d] the sentiment" of some fans' belief that Offset's appearance distracted from what should've been Cardi's moment.
“We sent her a [direct message] on Instagram saying we loved her, and that if she didn’t know, that we’re sorry it happened,” he said. “It was a stellar performance and we want to align ourselves with her for years to come.”
UPDATED 5:50 p.m. ET: Cherif issued another statement regarding the deleted tweets critics cited as evidence Rolling Loud took part in Offset's stunt. The comments state that the "special guests" tweet was deleted after one of the guests Rolling Loud was tipped off about didn't show up. Removing tweets with "bad intel" is standard practice for the festival, according to Cherif. Read the full statement below:
We were tipped off that Cardi was going to have multiple surprise guests, corroborated by what she said in her IG Live. One of specific guests we were told about didn’t end up showing up so we deleted the tweet, which is standard for us when things change as the night goes on. For example, there’s an earlier tweet about a special surprise guest for Tyga’s set that we also deleted upon learning that it wasn’t happening. Deleting old tweets with bad intel isn’t usually alarming but once we realized that we were getting dragged for the surprise interruption, we panicked and deleted the tweet bc we knew it was going to make things look worse. In hindsight, deleting those tweets actually made us look worse. We recognize that it was a poor decision.
See original story below.
Cardi B's headlining set at the Los Angeles Rolling Loud festival was interrupted by her estranged husband Offset, who begged for her forgiveness in an ill-fated gesture the Bronx rapper clearly didn't appreciate. Rolling Loud has issued a comment after facing massive criticism for its alleged role in the incident. In a statement sent from a rep for Rolling Loud, co-founder Tariq Cherif said:
Headliners and their teams have full control of the stage and who is allowed on it during their set at Rolling Loud. The festival does not interfere with or influence a headliner’s set list. We have never and will never do anything to change a headliner's set. We were tipped off that something was going to happen, but had nothing to do with the organization or execution of it.
Rolling Loud posted tweets that had many believing they helped Offset set the stage crash up. "Whatever happens tonight on the @audiomack stage, it's going viral," said one tweet. Another mentioned Cardi B was coming through with "some BIG surprise guests." Both tweets have since been deleted from Rolling Loud's account.
Since the ordeal, Cardi B has been posting on her Instagram explaining the situation and asked for fans to give her and Offset some space.
