Alabama rising rapper Jake Hill canceled a gig in Houston earlier this week after finding out he couldn’t eat meat at the venue because Morrissey was playing a gig that evening and had banned meat on the premises.
The show was scheduled to take place this past Monday, October 28 at White Oak in Houston, Texas. According to NME, the rapper tried to eat Chick-fil-A onsite, but was asked to leave and eat outside or head down to a nearby bar.
“[As] soon as we get here we find out that there’s a bigger artist playing on the lawn, who is a vegetarian. Which is fine. But he has made a specific contract rule that you cannot have any meat in the venue,” he said in a video posted to Twitter.
Show is cancelled tonight. Big fuck you to @officialmoz pic.twitter.com/Vd5ED2pU56
— iamjakehill (@JaaakeHill) October 28, 2019
“This is the 20th show we’ve done, we’re f*cking tired. I wanna relax, eat our food, but apparently God is here and he’s making it so we can’t eat meat. So, I hate to do this but I’m not about to bow down to this guy. Show’s been cancelled, I’m sorry.”
He went on to note that he and his crew had spent 40 days getting to the venue and while he’s going to lose supporters for calling-off the show, he said “this is about being treated like an equal human.”
Fans had mixed reactions; while some people believed he did the right thing, others think he should have just abided by the rules. On Twitter, the owner of the venue, Jagi Katial, said that Hill’s promoter was informed of the no-meat rule days ago. He claimed that it was his rule, not Morrissey’s, for that specific day in order to make things run smoothly.
Again this isn’t a venue rule always. It was implemented to avoid potential issues THAT day. THAT day. And the person that booked the kids show was supposed to tel them. Either way it’s uncool to cancel on fans for a sandwich
— Jagi Katial (@jkatial) October 31, 2019
Hill, who is currently on tour with Josh A, promised that he would be back in Houston for a free show in 2020.
Morrissey did not comment on the rapper’s cancellation. The former Smiths’ frontman toured earlier this year with the rockers of Interpol and is currently hitting dates across the U.S. He’s been known for his obtuse opinions; on this current tour, he’s reportedly sold albums of other artists signed by him, wore a “Fuck the Guardian” shirt for their negative coverage, and openly discusses his far-right British political views.