After being forced to cancel its World AIDS Day Concert and Employee Celebration in 2020 due to COVID-19, AHF booked part of SoFi Stadium for Dec. 1, 2021, across from the Forum, where AHF’s World AIDS Day concert takes place
However, SoFi Stadium | LEGENDS is now seeking to cancel AHF’s event, invoking a provision in the contract to throw AHF out: it appears SoFi Stadium | LEGENDS have a larger and more lucrative engagement booking from LiveNation
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today sharply rebuked SoFi Stadium | LEGENDS, operator of a stadium and entertainment complex in Inglewood, California, for trying to cancel a booking engagement by the global AIDS treatment organization for World AIDS Day, Wednesday, December 1, 2021.
AHF booked a reservation for a garden section of the SoFi Stadium, placing deposit of $60,066.50 that was received by Sofi on or about August 11th to hold that key December date for one of the most poignant events that AHF organizes annually: an evening of appreciation for its very hardworking Greater Los Angeles employees and their families. AHF specifically chose SoFi Stadium for its colocation directly across from the Forum, where AHF is also set to host its annual free World AIDS Day concert, taking place on the same evening just after the AHF employee celebration at SoFi.
However, SoFi Stadium | LEGENDS is now trying to cancel AHF’s employee celebration, invoking a provision in the contract to throw AHF out: it appears SoFi Stadium | LEGENDS have a potential larger and more lucrative engagement booking from LiveNation. SoFi is instead urging AHF to change its event date or terminate its contract, something that is not feasible given the collocating of the events at the two adjacent venues.
“After being forced to cancel our World AIDS Day Concert and employee celebration in 2020 due to COVID-19, we’ve been planning this year’s events for months now, looking at the celebration of our employees and the AIDS Day concert as a triumphant return after the past year-and-a-half of so much pandemic-related misery and suffering,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AHF. “Now to discover that we are in essence getting the boot so that SoFi/LEGENDS can make more money with a LiveNation booking is dispiriting to say the least. It is nothing more than bare knuckles corporate greed–shame on all of them!”
For convenience of its attendees, AHF intentionally chose the twin locations of the Forum, for the concert, and, across the street, a garden section of the SoFi for the AHF holiday gathering. Now, for the more than 800 employees AHF is expecting at these World AIDS Day events, the potential alternative logistics of two geographically disparate venues would make it effectively impossible for them to attend the events together.
AHF’s World AIDS Day concerts historically are free and open to the public. Attendees include AHF clients and patients, staff and their families as well as the general public. Previous AHF World AIDS Day concerts have included entertainers and headliners such as Mariah Carey, Diana Ross, Patti La Belle, Common, DJ Khalid among others and the events over the years have included presentations of humanitarian awards to Harry Belafonte, Debbi Allen and others.
