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In the midst of his Friday night performance at the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami Gardens, Fla., rapper Kid Cudi was fed up with onlookers throwing water bottles and other debris at him during his headlining set.
When a water bottle hit his face, Cudi – who stepped in as a last-minute substitute for Kanye West, his associate-turned-rival who canceled the festival – had an explosive-laden message to fans: “I’m leaving this.” next time an object hits me or is thrown on stage.
“Not [expletive] with me,” the 38-year-old artist said, according to a fan Video from the show.
About two seconds later a bottle whizzed past his head; Cudi dropped the microphone and walked off the stage after almost 30 minutes, to the surprise of the thousands of fans at Hard Rock Stadium. Some booed while others immediately sang for West, who now passes Ye. West finally showed up in a surprise performance on Friday night just after Cudi left the stage.
Video of the incident went viral, and critics have slammed those in attendance, particularly West’s fans, for disrespecting Cudi during his set.
“Never respect Cudi”, Complex Music wrote in a tweet.
A representative for Cudi, real name Scott Mescudi, did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Saturday. Rolling Loud officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cudi and West had an excellent creative partnership up until their public falling out earlier this year. After West slammed Cudi on Instagram for his friendship with comedian Pete Davidson, who is dating Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, Cudi vowed never to work with West again, calling him a “dinosaur.”
“You’re crazy for flipping the script and posting that lie just to have a look on the internet,” Cudi tweeted in February. “You are not a friend. BYE.”
In April, Cudi announced that he and West’s collaboration on rapper Pusha T’s “Rock N Roll” would be the last song featuring the two.
“I made this song a year ago when I was still cool [with] Kanye”, Cudi tweeted. “I’m not cool [with] this man.”
Rolling Loud co-founders Tariq Cherif and Matt Zingler said in a statement this week that they worked with West and his team on his performance for the first night of the festival until the rapper decided to pull out, for reasons still unclear.
“This is the first time a headliner has pulled off our show, and while we don’t take it lightly, we wish him well,” Cherif and Zingler said, according to Pitchfork.
It wasn’t the first time West pulled out of a music festival headlining performance this year. According to Variety, he canceled his Coachella appearance 11 days before his scheduled appearance. A production and design company sued West this month for $7.1 million, alleging in a California court that the rapper failed to pay them for his canceled Coachella performance or album release show, Donda 2.
But even after West retired from Rolling Loud, the co-founders were thrilled to have Cudi take his place.
“We’re excited to welcome Kid Cudi to Miami as a headliner and can’t wait to see what he has in store,” Cherif and Zingler said in a statement.
Ahead of the show, Cudi expressed his excitement for the Rolling Loud headliner and tweeted photos of fans ready to see him on stage.
“Who’s ready for the face-melting madness?” he tweeted about 90 minutes before his set.
Cudi was just four songs into his set when the bottles and debris started flying, according to fans on social media. As videos of the incident circulated on social media, critics slammed fans in attendance for forcing Cudi to end his set early.
“You guys are all out here disrespecting Kid Cudi and that proves to me that you guys have no home workouts or taste in music.” tweeted Ashley Nicole Moss, presenter of Sports Illustrated.
Shortly after leaving the stage, rapper Lil Durk brought out a surprise guest during his set: West. Despite withdrawing from his headlining set, West took the stage to perform “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1” – a hit with Cudi’s singing.
“This was an interesting first night of #RLMIAMI,” according to the festival tweeted.