Durham paid $37K to bring Monica to festival she was ‘never contacted or booked for’

The agent contracted to book R&B singer Monica for last weekend’s Bimbé festival in Durham owes the city $37,000 after the singer never showed up, newly released records show.

Chris Weeks inked a $45,000 deal with the city in January to secure Monica for the festival, and cleared $37,000 in checks from the city, according to invoices requested by The News & Observer.

The final $8,000 check was to be delivered after the show.

Weeks, who is based in Raleigh, told The N&O he will refund the money soon. He said he worked with “one of Monica’s booking agents.”

“The discrepancies were on her end and had nothing to do with the City of Durham or myself. The money is expected to be refunded shortly, at which point I will deliver it back to Durham,” Weeks said in an email.

Monica, a Grammy Award-winning artist, was advertised for weeks as the headliner for the Bimbé Cultural Arts Festival, a Durham Parks and Recreation event held on May 18.

“I was never contacted or booked for the Bimbé Cultural Arts Festival. I will NOT be there,” the singer said on social media the day before.

The city said until the morning of the festival that Monica would perform, but announced around 11 a.m. — two hours before the performances started — that she would not.

“We are deeply disappointed with this turn of events and are working fervently to determine how this happened,” the city said in a social media post.

They said Weeks was a booking agent “whom we’ve worked with and trusted for years.”

Mayor Leonardo Williams said on Monday that the festival was a fun-filled day regardless.

“I hate to go viral for the wrong reasons,” he said. “No, Monica, the national recording artist, did not show up. But the Bull City did.”

He recalled doing the Electric Slide in the rain.

“It was a beautiful moment, and it was a lesson learned. Snafus happen,” Williams said. “Monica was going to be a guest. She’s not the Bull City, and no artist is. We are the Bull City, and that’s what we need to highlight.”

Williams said the city is still trying to get answers.

“We are looking into how the ball got dropped, where it got dropped, all of that stuff,” he said. “And we’ll figure that out, but what’s most important is we had fun this weekend.”

In the contract, Monica and singer Amerie were both listed as performers, though Amerie’s name was omitted in a February contract amendment.

Cancellation or failure to appear “shall also require refund in full,” the contract states.

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