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Ms. Lauryn Hill has broken her silence on her latest delayed performance with a lengthy social media statement thanking Essence Festival organizers for taking responsibility. In her note, the singer and rapper also clarified “misconceptions” about her approach to live productions and referenced “years of public effort to defame me.”
Last week, Hill took the stage during the first night of the 2025 Essence Festival of Culture nearly two hours behind schedule, performing around 2:30 a.m. on July 5th to an “essentially empty” Caesars Superdome, according to NOLA.com. On Monday, July 7th, Essence Fest released a statement accepting responsibility for the delay.
Now, Hill has thanked the festival’s organizers for “clarifying that the delays were not my fault,” and detailed her hands-on approach to live performances. “Family, let me address a few things: I am involved in every aspect of what it takes to put on my shows, because it requires THAT much involvement to protect the integrity of my message and the quality of what I do,” she began.
She continued, “I rehearse and arrange the music diligently with my band. I am involved in every aspect of design, preparation and production of my shows while also being a parent, grandparent and steward to my immediate family and community.”
Hill added that while “some get to focus on a single discipline or category, my role requires that I have eyes everywhere and contribute to most if not every department and more.” However, she does all of this “without complaint because it is truly a labor of love and great passion for me to be able to perform meaningful music for my audience.”
She then addressed a “misconception” about her history of lateness. “There seems to be a misconception out there though that I am somewhere on the Riviera with my feet up, drink in hand, showing up to concerts whenever because I’m too important to care,” she wrote. “That’s nonsense… and anyone who’s been a part of these productions knows that IN FACT the opposite is true.”
“This is not the first time production delays have delayed my performances,” Hill admitted. “This IS however the first time a promoter has acknowledged the slip up on their end, (thank you Essence!) and this will be the last time I’ll allow production challenges to look like the fault is mine alone, when they aren’t.”
Hill then said she was “okay” with those who “can no longer extend me grace” because “it’s God’s grace that sustains me and the love of the fans who appreciate that my message came for them when they needed it most and KNOW that I was probably punished for being so honest in the midst of big business.”
“Media, fact check and watch what you irresponsibly put out there — there are consequences for misrepresenting the facts,” she concluded. “Despite the late start, I appreciate those who stayed and rocked with us.”
Despite this explanation, Hill has a long history of arriving late to concerts. In 2005, fellow Fugees member Wyclef Jean complained to PEOPLE about her being 45 to 50 minutes late to the stage during the group’s reunion tour. Two years later, her performance at Nice Jazz Festival was delayed by 90 minutes.
She has also been more than two hours late to concerts in Boston in 2010 and Atlanta in 2016. While addressing the Atlanta performance, Hill explained it was due to her “perfectionist tendencies” and added that she had been “aligning my energy with the time.”
More recently, Hill hit the stage hours late during several shows on her 2023 Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 25th anniversary tour.
English (US) · 