“If he really bothered about his fans…”: Grammy winner Ricky Kej slams comedian Trevor Noah

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Three-time Grammy award-winning musician Ricky Kej on Wednesday slammed Trevor Noah, a few days after the comedian’s ‘Off The Record’ show in Bengaluru got cancelled due to “technical issues” which left his fans disappointed.

Taking to X, Kej responded to Noah’s farewell post and wrote, “While I do agree that there were many Event Management related problems in the Bengaluru show for @Trevornoah .. there is something known as a “Soundcheck” and “Venue recce” that every responsible and caring artist caries out before a show.”

“If Trevor Noah really bothered about his ticket purchasing fans, then he would have made it a point to arrive earlier in the day (or previous night) and personally carried out a reconnaissance of the venue, tested out his microphone and ensured that the sound was optimum.

I am sure he does that at other prestigious venues all over the world, and I am shocked to realize he did not bother to do this in Bengaluru. This is the artists responsibility. Every artist/comedian/band has personal sound requirements and preferences.. and to just show up for the event, without even checking your sound is hugely irresponsible. It was the audience that got punished in the process.. audiences that paid money and travelled to experience him,” he added.

Noah was to perform at the Manpho Convention Centre in the city on September 27 and 28 as part of his ‘Off the Record’ tour. The organisers later cancelled both shows. However, Noah has apologised to his fans who came all the way to watch it.

“If Trevor wanted screens as he mentioned in his Mumbai rant, then he should have asked for them, given specifications. If he wanted a specific venue, he should have asked for it.

When Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, Metallica, Symphony Orchestras, Russel Peters, etc. have had super successful events in Bengaluru, why is Bengaluru being trashed now?” Kej further wrote.

Kej further mentioned examples of other foreign singers who have had successful Bengaluru events by working closely with event management and providing an excellent experience for their fans.

He wrote, “YANNI had performed in the EXACT SAME VENUE in 2014.. and the sound and experience was fantastic, because Yanni worked with everyone involved to deliver a spectacular concert. Yanni cared about his fans. Trevor also attributed this incident to India as a whole, which is in very bad taste. This is definitely a case of terrible event management, but more importantly a very complacent and irresponsible artist with a complete disregard for his paying fans (and India).. who blames everyone and everything but himself.”

After the show got cancelled, Noah wrote on his X account, “Dear Bengalaru India, I was so looking forward to performing in your amazing city but due to technical issues we’ve been forced to cancel both shows.”

Citing the reason for the cancellation of the show Noah earlier said, “We tried everything but because the audience can’t hear the comedians on stage there’s literally no way to do a show. We’ll make sure all ticket holders receive a full refund and again I’m so sorry for both the inconvenience and disappointment this has never happened to us before.”

He performed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Delhi-NCR on September 22, 23 and 24 and at the NSCI Dome, Mumbai on September 30 and October 1.