Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Alice in Chains are reportedly among the many artists who spent US tax-payer funded COVID aid grants on luxurious objects, journey, and events.
The funding, referred to as the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, was signed into legislation by President Donald Trump in 2020, and aimed to subsidise musicians and venues who have been impacted by pandemic-related closures.
Now, a brand new report from Enterprise Insider has discovered {that a} handful of massive artists, together with Wayne, Brown and Alice in Chains claimed hundreds of thousands from the grant earlier than spending it in lavish methods.
The publication reveals that Wayne acquired $8.9million from the tax-payer-funded grant, spending over $1.3million on private-jet flights and over $460,000 on garments and equipment, together with many from luxurious manufacturers like Gucci and Balenciaga.
The rapper reportedly put $175,000 in direction of “a music pageant selling his marijuana model, GKUA” in addition to “flights and luxurious lodge rooms for ladies whose connection to Lil Wayne’s touring operation was unclear, together with a waitress at a Hooters-type restaurant and a porn actress.”
Insider additionally alleges that Wayne claimed $88,000 for a live performance in Coachella, California that he didn’t find yourself acting at. They report that, when reaching out to him by way of textual content to remark, Wayne responded with “a sexually express overture to a reporter and didn’t reply to questions.”
Elsewhere, the artist and athlete administration agency NKSFB acquired no less than $207million in grant cash, of which they took $7million. From this funding, Chris Brown’s touring firm, CBE Touring, allegedly acquired $10million, with Brown himself getting $5.1million.
The publication alleges that Brown spent $80,000 of the grant to throw himself a birthday celebration, which reportedly included a $3,650 LED dance flooring and $2,100 “ambiance fashions”, which have been nude ladies in physique paint, based on expense reviews and a weblog put up by the get together planner. Elsewhere, over $29,000 was spent on hookahs, bottle service, “nitrogen ice cream,” and damages involving burn holes to rented couches.
Brown additionally reportedly spent $24,000 taking his tour bus to Mexico, the place he stayed for a month and didn’t carry out, although he filmed a music video with Jack Harlow. He has not commented on the claims listed within the report.
It does seem that each Brown and Wayne used a few of the SVOG cash on touring-related bills. Contractors for Wayne’s reveals acquired over $327,000, whereas Brown spent greater than $383,000 on crew payroll.
Marshmello (actual title Christopher Comstock) reportedly acquired practically $10million – the very best quantity of any single musician – as he had made greater than that quantity from touring in 2019.
Insider additionally alleges that members of Alice In Chains have been paid $3.4million, with frontman and guitarist Jerry Cantrell receiving $1.4million and drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez taking round $682,000 every.
A few of their grant went in direction of paying employees and varied contractors (like tools rental corporations and videographers), however data allegedly present the funding was not spent on advantages like medical health insurance for his or her touring crew, together with Scott Dachroeden, a guitar tech and tour photographer for the band who acquired a most cancers analysis in late 2022.
The band circulated a GoFundMe web page for Dachroeden’s remedy on Twitter/X, which learn “He has no medical health insurance and now can’t work to pay his payments”. He has since handed away.
NME has reached out to representatives for Alice In Chains for remark
