Lil Jon has threatened to take legal action against Live Nation for staging a second edition of the Lovers & Friends Festival without his involvement.
According to TMZ, the multi-platinum producer and his legal team formally reached out to the company on Monday (January 30), in a letter that made it expressly clear that Jon wants to be compensated for the use of the title of his 2004 single.
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The request comes after Lil Jon reportedly initiated negotiations with Live Nation last year, when he headlined the festival alongside Ludacris and Usher, who also appeared on the hit single. However Doug Davis, the attorney who initially the dialogue reportedly didn’t want to create a situation that might jeopardize the 2022 show, which was already a rescheduled event.
In this most recent attempt to come to an agreement about the use of the “Lovers & Friends” name, the Crunk Juice rapper’s attorney Ed McPherson argued that, while his client’s song was the remake of Michael Sterling’s 1991 song of the same name, the Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz version is the one this festival’s audience knows best.
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Despite the latest outreach by his attorneys, sources close to Lil Jon say he is trying to settle the matter without getting the courts involved.
Usher announced the line up for the 2023 Lovers & Friends Festival on January 17, three days before tickets for the May 6 event went on sale.
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In addition to the crooner himself, the Las Vegas concert will be co-headlined by 50 Cent and The Diplomats, and feature performances by Missy Elliott, Chris Brown, Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, Summer Walker,T.I., Soulja Boy, Busta Rhymes, Chingy, Remy Ma, Pitbull and a slew of others.
Tickets for this year’s event start at $250.00. Payment plans are available from $19.oo and upwards. Fans can register for tickets here.
Now in its second year, Lovers & Friends was one of the most anticipated festivals of 2020. However fans grew skeptical of the too-good-to-be-true lineup when Lil’ Kim, Ma$e and Twista all initially denied they had anything to do with the festival hours after the original lineup was released.
To complicate matters even more, both T-Pain and Megan Thee Stallion appeared on the Lovers & Friends bill despite being booked to perform at more established festivals on the same date. Their availability quickly became a non-issue, as the coronavirus pandemic caused the festival to be postponed indefinitely.
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Snoop Dogg, Live Nation and Bobby Dee announced the nostalgia-packed festival’s revival with a revamped lineup in 2021, which included performances from Lauryn Hill, Ludacris, Lil’ Kim, Ashanti, Ja Rule, T-Pain, Fabolous, Nelly, Trey Songz, Juvenile, Ciara, Cam’ron, Lil Jon, Ne-Yo, TLC and more.
After selling out their rescheduled date within an hour, Lovers & Friends Festival was forced to add a second day of performances due to overwhelming demand. The concert was eventually presented at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on two consecutive days, May 14 and 15, with the same lineup each day.
