US rapper 50 Cent pulls out of Dubai gig

American rapper 50 Cent has become the latest celebrity to pull out of Meydan’s Shoppsiesta event and will instead be replaced by Sean Paul, Kelly Rowland and T-Pain, organisers of the event said Monday.50 Cent’s cancellation follows a week after organisers announced that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan would no longer be performing at the event.“We understand that there have been several changes which can be attributed to the comparatively short preparation time,” Radhesh Menon, project director of Shoppiesta, said in an emailed statement.50 Cent was due to play the final evening of the five-night event, organisers said last week. But the star’s US promoter told The National that the rapper had never planned to play in Dubai.The Jamaican reggae singer Sean Paul, founding member of Destiny’s Child Kelly Rowland and the rapper T-Pain will instead take to the stage on 4 September. The trio will follow performances from Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Jacqueline Fernandez and Malaika Arora Khan who replace Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. “Although it is a huge disappointment for us and all the fans that Shah Rukh Khan will not be performing at Shoppiesta, we are confident of bringing the ‘We R.One Concert’ to Dubai post-Shoppiesta,” Menon said last week.The Shoppiesta festival will include two concerts each night, with Lebanese stars Nancy Ajram and Melhem Zein opening the first night. The Filipino R&B band, South Boarder, and Mocha Girls, will both be performing at the Filipino music night on 1 September while Iranian star Googoosh will perform the following evening. Indian stars Shankar Mahadevan and Hariharan will headline the 3 September concert.Entrance to the exhibition, which will be held at Meydan Racecourse, is priced at AED5. Concert tickets start from AED40 up to AED9,000 for a VIP table at the closing event. From / Arabian Business News