Nigerian star Burna Boy's US tour hangs in the balance

Grammy-winning Afrobeats star Burna Boy's ‘No Sign of Weakness’ tour in the United States and Canada has hit a major snag, with the abrupt cancellation of shows in multiple cities.

Ticketmaster, the primary ticketing platform, listed "low ticket sales" as the reason for cancelling Burna Boy’s scheduled performance in Minneapolis and Chicago, but some industry experts claim the move follows a massive public relations crisis stemming from an incident at the Nigerian artist’s recent concert in Denver city.

The controversy ignited when Burna Boy stopped his performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in November to publicly eject a woman from the audience after she was seen sleeping.

It was later revealed that the woman was grieving a personal loss, and fans became more upset when the artist declared, during an Instagram Live session, that he was "only looking for fans who have money."

Burna Boy is not new to controversies stemming from his on-stage conduct.

Social media firestorm

In the past, he kicked a star-struck fan offstage for attempting to hug him, and in another incident removed an audience member for failing to dance.

The latest incident in Denver has fuelled scrutiny for him, with a social media firestorm erupting and some fans cancelling their tickets in protest.

The direct financial impact became clear when Ticketmaster cancelled the November 28 show in Minneapolis and the December 1 concert in Chicago.

Burna Boy confirmed the cancellations himself by sharing the link to the updated schedule on his social media platforms.

However, the 34-year-old artist defended his actions by comparing himself to a pilot removing a disruptive passenger.

Promoting new album

Displaying a mixture of remorse and frustration, he said: “I sincerely apologise if I’m wrong, I’m not always right but I feel right about this. Anyway, I’m just human.”

Burna Boy’s tour of 16 cities in North America aimed at promoting his new album ‘No Sign of Weakness’ started on 16 November 2025 and was supposed to end on 11 December 2025.

But with the cancellations of some shows, the fate of the entire tour now hangs in the balance.