In response to her Fugees co-founder Pras Michél’s lawsuit for fraud and breach of contract about their postponed 2024 tour and unsuccessful 2023 global tour, Lauryn Hill has labeled the complaint as “baseless.”
Due to “severe vocal strain,” Hill unexpectedly postponed the “Doo Wop” singer’s intended second part of the Fugees’ global tour, which was set to begin in November 2023.
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Before being discreetly canceled, they were scheduled to play several US dates this year.
The 2023 tour was expected to be “a huge commercial success since most of the shows for the entire arena size tour were sold out in advance,” according to a complaint filed by her bandmate Michél of Fugees on October 1, 2024, in the Southern District of New York.
Michél, nevertheless, said he was left with nothing because of Hill’s “narcissistic tendencies,” “arrogance,” and purportedly poor handling of the tour’s marketing and finances, which were “so bloated with unnecessary and, most likely fictitious, expenses, that it seemed designed to lose money.”
The 2023 tour, according to him, was a “veiled and devious attempt” by Hill “to make a big score for herself.”
The lawsuit goes on to say that “Hill unilaterally rejected a $5 million offer [to play Coachella], further demonstrating her arrogance.”
Many of these allegations were refuted by Hill in a recent interview.
Hill stated, “This baseless lawsuit by Pras is full of false claims and unwarranted attacks.”
Hill went on to say, “It notably omits that he was advanced overpayment for the last tour and has failed to repay substantial loans extended by myself as an act of goodwill.”
“Last year’s tour was put together to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It was being planned whether the Fugees were involved or not,” she shared.
Hill expressed that the ideology behind her inclusion in the tour was to extend aid to Pras, “The tour was expanded to incorporate the Fugees because I found out that Pras was in trouble and would need money to aid his legal defense.”
Hill further added, “Pras was given a $3M advance for the tour, which he said he required to pay his legal fees. Wyclef and Myself deferred our full advances to make sure he had what he needed and was able to go.”
Hill stated in her interview, “I covered most of the tour expenses, as the majority of the tour advance had gone to Pras. An agreement was put in place to secure the repayment of the money he was advanced. Pras has not paid back the money he was advanced, and is currently in breach of this agreement.”
