You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
A booking agency that represents musician Jack White has reportedly blacklisted the University of Oklahoma after the student paper printed excerpts of White's contract ahead of a concert there last week. The Oklahoma Daily wrote two articles after obtaining the contract through the state's open records law. One article highlighted White's $80,000 fee while another, snarkier article detailed his tour rider, a document that included stipulations for a steak dinner, "aged salami with a sharp knife" and "FRESH HOME-MADE GUACAMOLE" for the band ("we want it chunky"). The rider also included a detailed recipe for the guacamole and a ban on bananas, stating that "this is a NO BANANA TOUR."
In response, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment -- the agency that booked White at the university and that also represents acts like the Foo Fighters, Pharrell Williams and Alicia Keys -- told the university's Campus Activities Council that it will no longer book artists at Oklahoma until its "policy is modified not to disseminate private information," according to The Oklahoma Daily. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment did not return a request for comment.
White's management, Monotone, Inc., released a statement Friday saying it and White have not blacklisted the university and clarifying that White did not write the rider himself. "We're not even sure he likes guacamole," Monotone stated. The company also referred to the actions of the student newspaper as "unfortunate, unprofessional and very unwelcoming."
"His contract wasn’t something we leaked," Emily Sharp, the newspaper's assistant arts editor, wrote on Wednesday, after White also called out the staff during the concert. "It is public information that any of you could request. Many newspapers show contracts of celebrities that come into town; this isn’t something The Daily did that’s out of the ordinary. It’s not a hidden document, and it’s not something we had to dig to get. It is available to the public."
