Lauryn Hill defended by festival organizers after performing at 2am to nearly-empty stadium

The organizers of Essence Festival have defended Lauryn Hill after her headline show was so delayed she ended up performing to a near-empty stadium.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, 50, was the headline act for the festival’s opening night on Friday, July 4. She was originally scheduled to take the stage at 12:35 a.m.

However, the former Fugees member did not begin performing at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans until 2:30 a.m., by which time only a few hundred dedicated fans were still left inside the 83,000-capacity stadium.

While some on social media initially blamed Hill for arriving late, Essence Festival organizers have now taken full responsibility for the delay.

In a statement posted to the festival’s official Instagram account they wrote: “Family is family and around here we protect our own no matter what the PEOPLE have to say.

“Let’s be very clear— WE don’t play about Ms. Lauryn Hill. Not for clicks. Not for headlines. She arrived on schedule, stepped on that stage, and delivered the kind of performance only a legend can.

“The delay? Not hers. We will take that. The moment? One for the books. The legacy? Still unmatched. Put some respect on her name. Keep the takes, but keep her out of them. All love and deep profound admiration for Ms. Lauryn Hill.”

The statement was applauded by several other artists, with Erykah Badu posting several clapping hands emojis and Jill Scott writing: “Very good.”

Hill, whose sole studio album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was released in 1998, developed a reputation for arriving late to her own concerts.

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In 2023, she addressed this on stage in Los Angeles by saying: “You’re saying, ‘She’s late, she’s late a lot.’ Yo, y’all lucky I make it on this stage every night!”

Met with uproarious applause and cheers, Hill continued: “I don’t do it because they let me do it, I do it because I stand here in the name of God! God is the one who allows me to do it! Who surrounded me with family and community when there was no support, when the album sold so many records, and no one showed up and said, ‘Hey would you like to make another one?’

“So I went around the world and played the same album over and over... and over again. Because we are the survivors, and we are not only the survivors, we are the thrivers.”