Public Enemy canceled their entire Australian tour just days before their first show in Melbourne on Saturday, October 5.
Australian promoter TEG Dainty issued a statement on behalf of Chuck D and Flavor Flav on Monday explaining that the cancellation was due to a medical emergency.
Frontman Chuck D, 64, will require “immediate eye surgery,” preventing American rapper and group co-founder Flavor Flav, 65, from going ahead with the tour.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting a little longer, but I need to get this eye surgery done, so I can really rock the house for you and Bring The Noise,” he said in the statement.
The statement went on to reveal that more Australian dates would be added to the tour at a later date to make up for the canceled shows.
Ticket holders can request refunds or keep their tickets, which will be valid for the rescheduled performances to be announced “in due course.”
The American rap icons were expected to kick off their Down Under tour in Perth on October 2 before flying to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane.
Due to “unforeseen scheduling issues”, promoter TEG Live canceled the Perth, Adelaide and Newcastle dates just five weeks before Public Enemy were due to perform.
Public Enemy (pictured) canceled their entire Australian tour just days before their first show in Melbourne on Saturday 5 October.
Fans quickly expressed their disappointment on social media following the news and asked why the shows were cancelled.
On Reddit, some despondent fans suggested that the reason given by the promoter for the tour’s truncation was a “euphemism” for low ticket sales.
“It’s some convenient scheduling issues for the three shows that will likely sell less,” one fan wrote.
Another fan suggested that there should be more transparency from promoters when canceling shows.
Australian promoter TEG Dainty issued a statement on behalf of Chuck D, 64, (left) and Flavor Flav, 65, (right), on Monday explaining that the cancellation was due to a medical emergency.
“Sometimes it would be better for the promoter to say openly that they haven’t sold enough tickets,” they said.
“Claiming that there is a scheduling conflict as a reason to cancel a show despite not canceling the show right before or immediately after gives it away anyway.”
Another chimed in: ‘Yes, because it’s not profitable to book poorly attended shows in isolated cities, and it’s not profitable to have to cancel them.
“Tours are business, and business goes where the money is.”
Public Enemy was formed in the mid-1980s on Long Island, New York, by Chuck D and Flavor Flav.
They rose to fame thanks to their uncompromising sociopolitical messages and genre-defining albums, including Fear of a Black Planet and It Takes a Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back.
Frontman Chuck D will require ‘immediate eye surgery’, preventing American rapper and group co-founder Flavor Flav, 65, from going ahead with the tour.