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UPDATE: Shortly after this article was published, the payment was made into De Vries's agent's bank account. De Vries believes the payment was made due to mounting pressure and the publicity of the story, and adds that "there's been no apology, no word about all the lies that were told ... I still want to ask artists who dare to perform there to just check out everything beforehand very carefeully. You have been warned."
Cape Town - Paarl music venue Ou Meul theatre has come under fire once again for reportedly not paying an artist for a show.
Taking to his Facebook page on Tuesday morning, Afrikaans entertainer Casper de Vries posted a link to a Channel24 article from June 2016, which reported on how Jan Blohm struggled to get his money from Ou Meul venue owner Michelle Faber after he performed there.
In his post De Vries says that after he performed a sold-out show on 25 August 2017 at Ou Meul theatre, he is still waiting for his money. According to De Vries, Faber has been ducking and diving and lying about his payment over the last few weeks.
See his full post here:
De Vries told Channel24 that after his agent, Charl van Heyningen, made the booking at Ou Meul theatre, "people who phoned to book for the show told me that Faber warned everyone that I use the 'P-word', uhm, which is of course absolutely true, I said 'Paarl' quite a few times."
"That was the first sort of dodgy thing that I couldn’t quite believe," says De Vries.
"Then the show was sold out, and afterwards she just sort of went quiet. And I pushed Charl to find out what was going on because I felt uneasy.
"She lets him know that she paid, and then she hasn’t. And then she has another excuse, and then another excuse. At the moment we’re looking for the proof of payment that she said she made on Friday, but there is no proof yet," De Vries added.
Channel24 reached out to Faber, who said she did make the payment to De Vries’ agent Van Heyningen on Friday.
Faber says she usually pays all the artists who perform at her venue in cash after the show, and that when she wanted to pay De Vries after his show, he had already left. She also claims that she didn’t have Van Heyningen’s bank details and that she only received it from him last week.
De Vries however says that it was never the agreement that he would be paid in cash afterwards, and that all admin was supposed to be handled between Faber and Van Heyningen, as the contract for the show was signed between the two of them.
According to WhatsApp messages obtained by Channel24, Faber eventually sent a detailed summary of the show on Tuesday 5 September indicating the amount owed to De Vries and the amount of people who attended the show, but without any payment.
See the report below:
According to WhatsApp messages Faber confirmed on Saturday morning at 01:25 that the payment has been made.
At the time of publishing De Vries’ agent Van Heyningen had not received any payment or proof thereof.
According to De Vries his initial post on Facebook "was to find out from other artists whether they have also been done in".
"I have since warned Amanda, Barry and Elvis Blue about this venue and this woman as they are due to appear there soon. They have all thanked me for the heads up," De Vries added whilst saying he'll take this to court if needed.
