Kanye West‘s recent Brunchella Sunday Service event has come under fire for essentially being Fyre Fest 2.0.
Yeezy performed at Bethany Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Friday night as part of a church service. The service was accompanied by a ‘Brunchella’ option which included a $55 “brunch”, according to 9 Honey.
Yes. $55USD (roughly $80AUD) for BRUNCH. Ridiculous.
[jwplayer Aut5G7YE]
Thousands of people attended the outdoor event to see Kanye perform his recently released Jesus Is King album, along with various church services and Christian preaching.
Despite the service itself being free, the event organisers also put on a $55USD ‘Brunchella’ event to fundraise for the church. I’m not quite sure what kind of person spends nearly $80AUD on a church brunch, but apparently people do, and they’re not happy about it.
Facebook user Kimberly Kinchen shared a photo of her styrofoam plate that honestly looks tastier than the food on it, expressing her outrage and demanding a refund.
“This is the wonderful & COLD brunch BUFFET we are being served,” she said, according to Daily Mail. “The server looked at me crazy when I asked for another pancake.”
Considering the event itself was free, it is hard to sympathise with anyone who feels the need to spend $80 on brunch. The ‘brunch’ was a church fundraiser, not a gourmet dining experience like Fyre Fest claimed. If overpriced prison food was the only issue here, it’d hardly be worth a story.
But a lacklustre breakfast wasn’t the only thing worth complaining about at the service, with many other ‘VIPs’ sharing their stories online.
Like they really had us hanging out on a hill away from the stage, promised we’d be ushered in later, only to hit us with “nope.” 😭😭😭! They even had the white folks HOT, one guy kept throwing around his law degree 😂😂. They just need to process refunds quickly. #Brunchella pic.twitter.com/rhWt3wVNEQ
— Dinma (@retrobeats) November 2, 2019
It appears that while the ‘VIPs’ were enjoying their truly scrumptious prison meal, the venue reached capacity, which left attendees to crime nearby trees to get a view of Yeezy’s Sunday Service performance.
But tensions grew stronger as fans were left waiting hours for Kanye after his 6pm set time was pushed back. He eventually took to the stage at 8pm that night.
https://twitter.com/muchcontroversy/status/1190426496688672768
A spokesperson for the event later clarified that the food services were in no way affiliated with Baton Rouge’s Sunday Service, and apologised for the inadequate food Kimberly received.
“On Friday, November 1, Lauryn’s Fine Catering provided brunch to Baton Rouge Sunday Service to attendees. Sunday service has no affiliation with the ‘Brunchella’ catering service. Attendees were to be provided with a hot brunch while waiting on Kanye West to perform. The catering company did not provide adequate food for ONE attendee and a social media post went viral,” they said. “Kanye West and the Sunday Service collective has no responsibility for any food complaints reported and should be disassociated with such claims.”
Kanye has confirmed that he didn’t receive any payment to perform at the event, and was not contractually obligated to perform. Rather, he used the location for the Baton Rouge leg of his famous Sunday Service tour.
If you didn’t drop the better part of $100AUD on some lousy pancakes and over-cooked bacon, the performance wasn’t that disappointing. Sure, Kanye was late, but for the measly price of $0, you won’t hear a peep from me.
