Mexican Star Peso Pluma Cancels Tijuana Concert After Death Threats

Nearly one week after banners written to singer Peso Pluma with death threats were posted throughout Tijuana, Mexico, the 24-year-old star has responded Wednesday by canceling an Oct. 14 show at Caliente Stadium in Baja California.

The Guadalajara native, whose real name is Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija, posted the news on social media through his label Doble P Records, saying, “Our objective is to protect the fans and the team. For the security of everyone involved, we canceled our show in Tijuana. Many thanks to our fans for understanding. We love you.”

Around the same time his label informed fans, Peso Pluma wrote a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, that said, “Don’t believe everything you see on the internet please.”

Four narcomantas, banners with written messages from cartels that usually contain death threats, were found in Tijuana warning Peso Pluma of performing at Caliente Stadium 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. The artist is one of this year’s fastest-rising stars in the industry with more than 50 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and has several narcocorridos, which are folk ballads about Mexican cartels, in his catalog.

Speaking to Mexican radio show Radio Formula on Tuesday, Mayor Montserrat Caballero said that cancelation was a decision from the artist and his team, not local officials because authorities didn’t have sufficient evidence to do so. A person who was near a place of interest had been apprehended by law enforcement but was later released.

Caballero added that authorities do “not discard that it involved organized crime” and that there’s a 20- to 30-percent chance it was cartel-related. She also said that the banners could have been made by young individuals who listen to narcocorridos and feel indirectly tied to the organized crime group.

After reports of the threats surfaced, Peso Pluma, who is managed by George Prajin, postponed four U.S. shows at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, Rosemont Theatre near Chicago, Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham, Alabama, “due to unforeseen circumstances.”

Peso Pluma has 10 headline shows reported to the Pollstar Boxoffice since April 8 and has grossed more than $12 million. His sold-out concert at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 26 grossed nearly $1.4 million off 7,572 tickets.