One day after Alabama State University students were scheduled to watch Lil Wayneperform, and two days after administrators found out he was never coming, students got apologies and a few answers.
Student Government Association President Jeremy Crum held what he called a "public apology" outside the Acadome in front of about 100 students Thursday.
"We still do not know the whole story, because the Student Government Association was not involved throughout the whole process so there are some missing pieces," Crum said. "I apologize if I took too long to come out with a statement. I wanted to get my facts right."
The university hired outside promoting agency Millennium Age to book its 2015 Homecoming Concert, according to Alabama State President Gwendolyn Boyd. The university reported that Lil Wayne would be the headliner for the event as late as 2:59 p.m. Tuesday, before announcing the booking was a fraud two hours later.
During his speech, Crum apologized and blamed "upper administration" for the booking gaffe, cancellation of the concert, and lack of support for the SGA.
"As your student leader, I should have played a more active role in planning our homecoming concert," Crum said. "I, along with many students on this campus, am absolutely saddened, devastated and crushed that this event was taken from us due to errors from upper administration."
Crum's speech was followed by a question-and-answer session during which Crum said there would be another concert and that a "town hall" would be held for students to speak with school officials in the near future.
Boyd made an impromptu appearance and addressed the students for the first time since the concert cancellation.
"I heard you were having a gathering, because you wanted to know what was going on," Boyd said. "It is unfortunate that we were duped and didn't find out until Tuesday that the headline entertainment wasn't coming."
Boyd said that no money was paid by the university. The money collected from students who bought tickets on campus was immediately collected by campus Police Chief James Graboys. Students who bought tickets on Eventbrite were given instructions to receive refunds.
"No money left the university," Boyd said. "I believe it was appropriate for the university to protect you and what you thought was a good investment. Scams happen every day. Just because we're a university doesn't mean we're exempt from being scammed."
Lil Wayne's manager released a statement Tuesday stating the performer was never booked for the show.
Crum said Graboys found "nothing fraudulent" about Millennium Age, but Boyd said there are no definite answers as to who is behind the problem.
"When you're dealing with fraud you've got a lot of moving parts and moving people," Boyd said. "We don't know who defrauded who, but we do know we got the call on Tuesday from Mr. Wayne's promoter that he had never signed a contract."
Boyd confirmed that the university would replace the homecoming concert with another act. However, students shouldn't hope for anybody as famous as Lil Wayne.
"You also know the financial status of the university," Boyd said. "We can't afford a half-million dollar entertainer, but we can do something that you will enjoy."
Response from the students was fairly positive, but many offered solutions, and others still had questions.
Barry Cook, a communication major with a concentration on music industry, thinks students such as him should have been involved in the booking process.
"We have a whole music department dedicated to music industry," Cook said. "Contracts, concerts, copyright, all that. We have that foundation from trying to work in the music industry. ... This could have been avoided."
SGA Budget and Finance Committee Co-Chair Shane Parks said he still has questions, but thinks Thursday was a good start. Specifically, he wants to know who is responsible for arranging the concert in the first place.
"I want to know who signed the paperwork," Parks said. "More than anything we're concerned about the face of the university."