Montclair State University students camped out Tuesday night starting at 11:30 p.m., waiting for tickets to a concert featuring rapper Nicki Minaj to go on sale at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning. While hundreds of students waited, they did what college students do–they posted what they were doing on Twitter and Facebook.
News of the concert reached Minaj on Twitter, and she promptly responded to students that this was a scam:
what is this i’m hearing about a MSU concert? where and when is this concert supposed to be? i feel so bad 4 ppl who were scammed
i tell u guys all the time, if u don’t see me tweet about it, its not real. i’m gonna figure out the bastards behind this MSU scam.
wen i find out the person responsible for this MSU scam i’m putting their name on twitter. scamming college kids? go to hell!
Minaj later tweeted that, according to MSU, the fraudulent agent was allegedly Romarick Hough of Premiere Talent Agency. She also posted his phone number. News of the scam also made Perez Hilton.
The concert was supposed to be part of MSU’s Homecoming festivities, presented by the Student Government Association and student organization Programming Board.
The SGA sent out an e-mail to all students saying the rumors of the scam were false early Wednesday afternoon, but soon realized their mistake and admitted to being scammed around 5 p.m. last night.
Premiere Talent Agency booked Minaj to perform for $37,000. SGA President Christopher Goscinski admitted that the SGA and Programming Board had been scammed and that police and lawyers were investigating the matter.
“We couldn’t get in touch with the agency, a couple hours later we got in touch with Minaj’s real agency,” Goscinski says. “At 2:45 p.m., we realized we were actually scammed.” Miraj, who is getting ready to release her debut album in November, states on her web site — below the booking information — that she isn’t performing right now.
A check signed by the SGA was sent over in mid-July to the fake agency for $27,000. The additional $10,000 was going to be sent later after tickets were sold.
Ticket prices were $20 for MSU students and $40 for non-students; 900 tickets were sold.
About 100 students camped out, lining the quad with blow-up mattresses, sleeping bags, chairs and coolers.
Minaj has asked that MSU send out a press release taking any burden off her name. In exchange, she will help the students find another act of equal caliber to perform in two weeks.
An e-mail was sent out later Wednesday night, stating, ” Due to the gravity of the situation, we are taking legal actions towards the fraudulent agency with whom we initially signed the contract. We further state that Nicki Minaj and her organization had no association with the agent and that he, in fact, is the real scammer.”
The e-mail also urged students not to throw away their tickets or receipts, because it will be the only way they will be able to get a refund. They can also hold onto the tickets for admission to the new show.
“Nothing came up on our radar to make us think this was illegitimate,” Goscinski says. “We were dealing with the agency for four months. They played us well and we are disappointed we fell victim to such a thing.”
“Our legal teams are working. There are way more schools that were scammed. We are working to put an end to this. Thank you,” Minaj stated on her Twitter.
To see video of students waiting in line and student feedback click here.
Video courtesy of The Montclarion, the student voice of Montclair State University.
I’ve slept on cold, hard NYC sidewalks waiting to purchase concert tickets before, these wimps has blow-up mattresses on the grassy lawn at MSU?
Yike!!
Is this the kinda story we can expect from the new strategic alliance between Baritanet and MSU?
God help us….
When you deal with an “agency” for 4 months, there should have been enough of a paper trail to quickly rectify the situation. This is MSU, not Just Jakes. Put $27,000 in escrow for god’s sake. This doesn’t look good for MSU’s economics department!