Lizzo to Keep $5 Million Deposit from Canceled Virgin Fest LA, Appellate Court Rules

An appellate court has officially ruled that Lizzo can keep the $5 million deposit she received to play the shelved Virgin Fest Los Angeles 2020.

California’s Second District Court of Appeals only recently upheld a prior trial-court judgement in favor of the touring companies behind Lizzo as well as Ellie Goulding (who received and opted to keep a $600,000 pre-performance payment) and Kali Uchis ($400,000).

We first covered Virgin Fest’s complaint at the time of its submission way back in the summer of 2020, after COVID-19 lockdown measures prevented the event from taking place in June as originally planned. Needless to say, given the years-running legal battle that followed, the festival organizer sought the return of the $6 million in deposits.

Also naming WME (which negotiated the performance pacts) as a defendant, Virgin Fest managed to compel deposit returns from “each” of the agency’s oth