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Thursday, November 12, 2026Nov 12

Twisted Sister sues promoter over unpaid farewell show fee

FILE - In this July 23, 2016 file photo, Dee Snider of the U.S. band "Twisted Sister" performs during the Hell and Heaven music festival in Mexico City.  The heavy metal rock band claims a promoter stiffed them out of most of their fee for the band’s farewell concert for its most devoted core of fans last year. The band is best known for its hits “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock.” They accuse promoter John D’Esposito of only paying them $50,000 of the $200,000 they were supposed to be paid. The promoter claims both sides agreed to change the payment schedule. (AP Photo/Christian Palma)
FILE - In this July 23, 2016 file photo, Dee Snider of the U.S. band "Twisted Sister" performs during the Hell and Heaven music festival in Mexico City. The heavy metal rock band claims a promoter stiffed them out of most of their fee for the band’s farewell concert for its most devoted core of fans last year. The band is best known for its hits “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock.” They accuse promoter John D’Esposito of only paying them $50,000 of the $200,000 they were supposed to be paid. The promoter claims both sides agreed to change the payment schedule. (AP Photo/Christian Palma) FILE - In this July 23, 2016 file photo, Dee Snider of the U.S. band "Twisted Sister" performs during the Hell and Heaven music festival in Mexico City. The heavy metal rock band claims a promoter stiffed them out of most of their fee for the band’s farewell concert for its most devoted core of fans last year. The band is best known for its hits “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock.” They accuse promoter John D’Esposito of only paying them $50,000 of the $200,000 they were supposed to be paid. The promoter claims both sides agreed to change the payment schedule. (AP Photo/Christian Palma)

LAKEWOOD, N.J. (AP) – They’re not gonna take it.

Twisted Sister claims a promoter stiffed members of the heavy metal band out of most of their fee for a farewell concert last year.

The show was the band’s farewell to fans in the New Jersey-New York-Connecticut area where they labored in clubs for years before becoming worldwide stars in the 1980s with the hits “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock.”

Jema Productions, a company run by guitarist Jay Jay French that contracts with promoters on behalf of the band, is suing promoter John D’Esposito and his company Rock N Festivals. The band claims it has only been paid $50,000 of the $200,000 it was to receive for headlining one of the three nights of a festival called The Rock Carnival, which was held at a minor league baseball stadium in Lakewood, New Jesey, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2016.

“After a stellar 14-year reunion in which we played in 32 countries all around the world, to have this happen at the final show in the New York area is very disheartening to the band,” French told The Associated Press.