American rapper Rick Ross was involved in a violent incident after his set at a festival in Vancouver on Sunday night, event organizers have confirmed, after a video showing a brawl outside B.C. Place Stadium was posted to social media.
Ross, 48, was headlining the Ignite Music Festival, which took place at the Plaza of Nations adjacent to the stadium in the city’s downtown.
In a video shared to X, formerly Twitter, Ross is seen in the middle of a crowd trading heated words with another man, who then appears to throw a punch at the rapper; a melee then breaks out.
Lindsay Sparrow, CFO of event organizer Canadian Events Agency, said she was backstage at the time of the fight.
She called it a “short altercation” that was quickly resolved by security, and came after Ross closed his set by playing Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us, a diss track that targets Toronto rapper Drake.
“Security did a great job and … everyone exited safely, which is always our primary concern for everyone attending the festivals,” Sparrow told CBC News.
Other artists on the Ignite festival bill included Sickick and Merkules.
Ross, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, has topped the charts numerous times over a nearly three-decade-long career.
Sparrow said the event tried its best to work with law enforcement and have security in place given the sometimes volatile nature of hip-hop performances.
She said she was not aware of any serious injuries or criminal charges as a result of the fight.
Both B.C. Emergency Health Services and the Vancouver Police Department told CBC News they were not called upon to investigate after the altercation.
Ross does not address attack
While Ross did not address the apparent attack afterwards, he issued a farewell post to Vancouver on his Instagram.
“Vancouver it was fun, till next time,” the artist wrote in a post next to a picture of a branded private jet.
Ross is involved in an ongoing feud with Drake, whose war of words with Lamar lit up social media earlier this year as the two artists released a number of songs dissing each other.
Drake’s song Push Ups, while directly targeting Lamar, also takes shots at other artists including Ross, Future, Metro Boomin and The Weeknd.
Within 24 hours of Drake releasing Push Ups on April 13, Ross responded with a track called Champagne Moments, in which he accuses Drake of getting a nose job.
Not Like Us was released by Lamar on May 4 and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart immediately after.
