Lil Jon Threatens Live Nation Lawsuit Over ‘Lovers & Friends’ Festival
lil jon Feels no love or friendship from Live Nation, who he claims is using his song title ‘Lovers & Friends’ for a festival he doesn’t even play – so now the King of Crunk is threatening a lawsuit.
TMZ Hip Hop received a copy of the letter Jon’s team fired out to the concert-sponsoring company on Monday … detailing his efforts to reach a financial settlement for the incredibly popular Las Vegas festival.
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Jon says he and Live Nation began talking through one of his attorneys back in May 2022. Doug Davis, and assumed Live Nation would do the right thing. We’re told he didn’t want to push too hard as his focus was on securing last year’s festival – headlined by Jon, usher and Ludacris — What a success.
It’s now a year later and Usher recently announced the lineup for this year’s lineup – featuring megastars Chris Brown, Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, Nelly … but no Lil Jon!!!
In the letter, Jon’s powerful attorney Ed McPherson compares a Lovers & Friends festival without Jon… to a Don’t Stop Believin’ festival without Journey, or a Cheeseburger in Paradise festival without Jon Jimmy Buffett.
It’s an apparent attempt to frame the dispute in a way that Live Nation’s attorneys will understand.
Sources connected to Jon tell us he was hoping to avoid litigation and has been trying to reach a settlement for months.
For the record, Jon readily admits that his “Lovers & Friends” – off his 2004 album Crunk Juice – is a cover of MichaelSterling‘s 1991 song, but insists his version is the one that became “ubiquitous in the black community” … so much so that Live Nation clapped the name at its festival.
Bottom line…Lil Jon feels they owe him a lot for Live Nation trading in his hard work to create such an enduring hit.
We reached out to Live Nation to get their side of the argument. No feedback yet.
