Features
Day For Night Assets Up For Sale, Festival May Never Return
– Day For Night
Three months after Day For Night organizers announced that creditors were foreclosing on the entity that owns the Houston festival and removing founder Omar Afra from any involvement in the event because of allegations of sexual misconduct, news broke Nov. 16 that a date has been set for a public sale of Afra’s assets and financial interests.
The festival – which launched in 2015 with performances from Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, New Order and Janelle Monae – may “possibly never again” take place, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Afra is the former publisher of Free Press Houston, which announced in late September it was relaunching with a new owner and management team following the allegations. The publication posted a statement on its website Nov. 16 from FPH Chicken Holdings, LLC, the owner of the debt incurred by Afra, explaining it was “moving forward to finalizing the foreclosure on the assets securing the debt.”
The public sale is scheduled Nov. 26 at the Offices of Pagel, Davis, and Hill, P.C. in Houston for Afra’s purported assets and financial interests, as well as related entities, including the Free Press Houston newspaper and website, Day For Night Festival, and Our/Houston Vodka distillery business.
Justice Record label founder Randall Jamail, who was a financial backer of the festival since the start, told the Chronicle he doesn’t expect to get his investment back from the sale and indicated that the event was over.
“So many of the festivalgoers for Day for Night came from out of state and out of the country,” he told the paper. “It was a unique opportunity for the city to showcase itself as a leader and an innovator in the arts. So, of course, I’m saddened by that.”
The paper also spoke to Afra, who said he hoped the festival and Houston Free Press could carry on “despite everything that happened.” The Chronicle noted that the Day For Night’s future is uncertain and depends on investors determining how much value the event has.
The last update on Day For Night’s Facebook page is an Aug. 12 post saying that creditors were “shocked and saddened to hear of the allegations of sexual misconduct against Day For Night founder, Omar Afra. We stand with all victims of abuse.
“The creditors have deemed it appropriate to foreclose on the entity which owns the festival, effectively removing Omar Afra from any ownership or involvement in Day For Night from this day forward. Out of respect for these alleged victims, any announcement about the future of Day For Night will be made at a later date.”
Afra has denied the allegations.
He told the Chronicle Aug. 16, “Let’s get real here. If I was a barista, it wouldn’t be news that I tried to kiss a girl. For this one fleeting moment, we were the best thing in the world, and it was great. But I think that the very fact that it grew so quickly and it became such a phenomenon is what put a target on it – and me.”
Day For Night’s 2017 edition took place Dec. 15-17 at Post HTX with a lineup topped by Nine Inch Nails, Thom Yorke, Solange, Justice, St. Vincent, Tyler, The Creator, James Blake. The festival has not submitted box office reports to Pollstar.