Rod Wave Countersues After $27M Tour Lawsuit: Promoter Is Trying to Force ‘Indentured Servitude’

Rod Wave has fired back at a lawsuit over his unfinished Last Lap tour, saying in counterclaims that promoter Grizzly Touring is trying to trap him into working with the company again after massive scheduling and production issues forced him to cancel shows.

The countersuit is Rod’s first response since being sued last month by Grizzly, a joint venture between AG Entertainment, Mammoth Touring and CTS Eventim. Grizzly’s lawsuit claims the singer and rapper is obligated to return $27 million in advances from the Last Lap tour and that he’s under contract to work with the promoter for future tours.

Rod contends in counterclaims filed Sunday (Oct. 12) that Grizzly’s production failures and routing issues made it “logistically impossible” for him to complete the tour. The singer wants a judge to tear up his contract with Grizzly so he can self-promote a new headlining tour called The Redemption Experience.

“Grizzly is not entitled to this improperly requested specific performance or equivalent injunctive relief, which effectively amounts to an indentured servitude,” writes Rod’s lawyer James Sammataro. “Defendants have lost confidence in Grizzly as their tour promoter and no longer wish to perform services for Grizzly or receive Grizzly’s services.”

The dispute centers on Rod’s tour supporting his Last Lap album, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in October 2024. The arena trek was originally scheduled to run from October to December 2024, but numerous shows were postponed through February 2025. In January, however, Rod announced on social media that he was canceling the remaining dates.

Grizzly claims Rod’s cancellation violated their touring contract and that the singer is now improperly holding onto $27 million worth of advances. But Rod says he’s entitled to keep this money under their deal — and he argues that Grizzly actually breached the contract by failing to properly load his touring equipment in and out of arenas and “making unilateral, onerous and inexplicable routing and booking decisions.”

“Rod Wave frequently learned only at the last minute that a show had been rescheduled, often only after seeing tickets for these rescheduled shows available online,” reads the countersuit. “Only 12 of the 35 scheduled [shows] occurred at the date and venue originally announced.”

Rod alleges that because of these massive production and scheduling problems, he “was left with no option but to cancel the remaining tour dates.” He wants Grizzly to pay him financial damages for breach of contract, as well as for the reputational harm that arose from his “understandably outraged” fanbase.

The countersuit also claims that Rod’s contract with the promoter is voided by these breaches. The singer wants a judge’s blessing to embark on his new Redemption Experience tour, which is set to begin in December at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, without any involvement from Grizzly.

“Grizzly’s lawsuit represents an improper effort to force Rod Wave to specifically perform a personal services contract for Grizzly against his will,” writes Rod’s legal team.

In addition to these core claims, Rod’s countersuit also makes the eyebrow-raising allegation that Grizzly member company AG Entertainment bribed the singer’s former agent, Beau Williams.

Rod says AG gave Williams at least $1.8 million in “under-the-table” payments so that the agent would underhandedly “sneak” a five-tour exclusively clause into the Last Lap tour contract. This plan was unsuccessful, says the countersuit, as Rod identified and rejected this exclusivity language.  

In a statement released on Monday (Oct. 13), Rod’s reps say Grizzly’s “baseless” lawsuit is an “unfortunate extension of its prior failed attempts to trap Rod Wave into an exclusive arrangement.”

“Grizzly Touring has no one to blame but itself,” say the singer’s representatives. “Had it not grossly mismanaged the Last Lap tour, by among other things, repeatedly changing the tour schedule and canceling concerts at the last minute, the tour would have been completed as intended.”

Grizzly’s lawyers did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday, nor did Williams.