Organisers have been forced to pull the plug on the inaugural Colombian Lollapalooza, after headliner Rihanna backed out over fears of contracting the deadly Zika virus.
The juggernaut festival was scheduled to make its foray into the South American nation this September, but those plans have now gone the way of Pablo Escobar’s drug cartel.
La Tercera reports that promoters canned the event because they didn’t have enough time to find a replacement headliner, and are now offering refunds to ticketholders.
The Chicago festival’s sojourn into the Colombian market comes at an unfortunate time when South America is experiencing an outbreak of the mosquito-borne and sexually transmitted Zika virus (ICYMI: many international athletes have even withdrawn from the 2016 Rio Olympics due to similar concerns).
Lolla was set to run from September 17th – 18th in Colombia’s capital of Bogota, and feature performances from Ri-Ri alongside the likes of Lana Del Rey, Disclosure, Cage the Elephant, Anderson .Paak, Silversun Pickups, Matt and Kim, The Chainsmokers and many more.
Originally the brainchild of Jane’s Addiction, the festival has since spawned offshoots in other South American countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, with Lollapalooza Berlin scheduled to take place across September 10th – 11th this year.
Organisers say they still hope to stage an event in Colombia at some point in the future.
Meanwhile, Australia be like:
