Peso Pluma Postpones Shows Amid Alleged Cartel Threats

Peso Pluma performs onstage during the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at Prudential Center on September 12 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV)

Peso Pluma postponed four dates from his “Doble P Tour” following reports of banners threatening the Mexican singer’s life being placed in four different areas of Tijuana on Tuesday.

Four venues announced that Peso Pluma’s shows were postponed “due to unforeseen circumstances.” The Sept. 14 show at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum was rescheduled for Nov. 4. The Rosemont Theatre near Chicago, Illinois, informed its social media followers Wednesday that Peso Pluma’s show originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 15, will now take place Oct. 29, and the Sept. 16 concert at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, has been moved to Oct. 31. Another concert at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham, Alabama, set for Sept. 17 was rescheduled for Nov. 2. All venues stated that previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new dates.

The threats marred what was a historic night for Peso Pluma at the MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday. He became the first-ever regional Mexcian act to perform a corrido in the 39-year history of the show with his performance of the hit track “Lady Gaga.”

Prior to the VMAs, news outlets reported that four banners placed throughout Tijuana warned the artist of performing at Caliente Stadium on Oct. 14 because “it would be your last” due to the singer’s “disrespect and loose tongue.” The threats were signed with the initials CJNG, which are those of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Peso Pluma, one of this year’s fastest-rising stars in the industry with more than 50 million monthly listeners on Spotify, has several narcocorridos, which are folk ballads about Mexican cartels, in his catalog. Some Mexican politicians and audiences push back against the popular subgenre and have attempted to censor the music in the past, but many view narcocorridos as a way for artists to convey and critique contemporary Mexican life.

The 24-year-old Guadalajara native, whose real name is Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija, has not responded to the threats, and as of Thursday night, his Oct. 14 concert in Tijuana is still on.

Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero told Mexican news outlet Milenio on Wednesday that authorities are investigating the threats and it is unknown if the banners were made by a crime organization. She has not ruled out canceling the upcoming show at Caliente Stadium in Baja California for the security of citizens and added that while Peso Pluma has the right to sing about what he wants, he and artists like him should be aware of “the consequences and risks” that come with singing about the drug trafficking and crime. Montserrat is referring to the well-known fact that dozens of Mexican musicians tied to the narcocorrido genre have been shot at or brutally murdered in the past two decades.

Tijuana Security Secretary Fernando Sánchez told reporters that a suspect who was near a place of interest was arrested and that officers found drugs in his pocket when he was detained.

Since April 8, Peso Pluma, whose “Doble P Tour” is produced by Live Nation, has nine headline shows reported to the Pollstar Boxoffice with a gross of $10.6 million off 87,061 tickets sold. He sold out UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on Aug. 24 and grossed $2,135,895. The Mexican singer is managed by George Prajin.