Cork Opera House CEO issues statement over last night's cancelled Yasiin Bey gig

The CEO of Cork Opera House Eibhlín Gleeson has issued a statement regarding the cancellation of last night's Yasiin Bey gig.

The musician, formerly known as Mos Def, was set to perform yesterday evening as part of the final night of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival.

However, the gig was cancelled at short notice with Cork Opera House issuing a statement on social media informing ticket holders that due to "unforeseen circumstances" Yasiin Bey would not be performing.

The statement was later updated to include a comment from the artist's management who said the cancellation was due to health concerns.

In a statement today, Ms Gleeson said the Opera House was "devastated" to have to cancel last night's performance.

"The statement that was issued by the artist's management outlined that the artist was unwell.

"Cork Opera House received this notice approximately one hour in advance of the doors opening. 

"Previous to this, we had no indication whatsoever that the gig would not go ahead," she said.

Once it became clear that the show was not going ahead, Ms Gleeson said the venue did "everything that was humanly possible" to alert ticket holders as quickly as possible. 

"We called in extra staff and went about communicating the cancellation to patrons, including emailing every patron and announcing on social media, Twitter and Instagram. 

"We funnelled all of our resources into making sure that we were alerting all our patrons, including meeting and apologising to the patrons who arrived for the show."

She said last night was an "unprecedented situation" for Cork Opera House. 

"Our staff worked tirelessly to manage the situation under really challenging and difficult circumstances. 

"We understand that people are upset about this cancellation, however, we did the best we could with only one hour's notice. 

"This situation is not the fault of the staff at Cork Opera House and we will not accept or tolerate our staff being abused.

"If you have further complaints, please forward your email to the artist's manager, Michael Carsenti on mikl@mc5.fr or booking.mc5@gmail.com"

The American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor who hails from Brooklyn was also set to perform at St Luke’s on Sunday evening, but this gig was also cancelled.

The venue made the announcement on Thursday stating that the cancellation was due to “conflicting travel issues” beyond their control.

In a statement on social media, Live at St Luke’s said that all ticket holders had been notified and that full refunds had been processed.