tpain gets slapped with lawsuit

T-Pain got slapped with a lawsuit Monday (March 23) in Broward Circuit Court -- for canceling a major concert in Guyana last month because of alleged kidnap and death threats.

The plaintiff, Hits and Jams Entertainment, says T-Pain became a major pain by making grandiose demands -- from a private jet and FBI protection to a phone chat with Guyana's president.

T-Pain, paid $75,000 in advance, failed to appear, according to the complaint filed by Miami attorney Ron Lowy.

Hits and Jams, the Georgetown-based concert producer and promoter, along with three of its officers, also sued T-Pain's Nappy Boy Touring and Chase Entertainment of Fort Lauderdale.

T-Pain was to headline the Republic Day event on Feb. 23. Hits and Jams provided more than a dozen airline tickets for T-Pain and his entourage, including seven in first class.

The contract also called for: a ''four-star hotel or better'' with Cartoon Network and 24-hour room service; a stadium dressing room with a private bathroom; and bottles of Grey Goose, Gran Patrón Platinum and Hennessy, and Gatorade and herbal tea.

But on Feb. 20, Chase Entertainment's David Abram told the promoters he'd been 'advised by a credible source associated with T-Pain's camp that T-Pain should not `come' to Guyana because he would be killed or kidnapped because Hits and Jams had not paid their 'street guys.' ''

Negotiations failed to allay T-Pain's security fears, although the threats were never substantiated. Two days before showtime, Abram ''offered to return the $75,000 advance payment and to assist with the damage control,'' the suit says. But the promoter said that would not offset damages or ``remedy the disappointment to the Guyanese fans.''

Lowy lodged a $5 million breach-of-contract claim against T-Pain and Nappy Boy. He also filed libel and defamation counts against all the defendants, including Abram.

Responds Abram: ''It was a legitimate security threat.'' Chase, T-Pain's management company, did not want to put the artist in ''harm's way,'' Abram adds.

''We feel horrible about not being able to play the concert,'' he said. ``We are going to do what needs to be done to make this right with the promoters They're a good company. We're a good company.''