After announcing last Tuesday that artist LANY would no longer be headlining Lawnparties, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Social Committee has announced that A$AP Ferg will be the new headliner.
A$AP Ferg, an American rapper from Harlem, New York, is a member of the hip hop collective known as the A$AP Mob, which includes other artists like A$AP Rocky and A$AP Nast. He has over 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and his biggest hit ‘Plain Jane’ has over 500 million listens.
On Sunday, the USG Social Committee announced LANY as this year’s headliner act, but allegations of predatory behavior, manipulation, and emotional abuse by lead singer Paul Klein were quickly uncovered. The alleged behavior, which has been outlined on a public Google document created by Twitter user @hahlys, involves 12 separate allegations made against the singer during his career.
Neither LANY nor Klein responded to request for comment.
“Once made aware of the allegations against LANY after the headliner announcement this past Sunday, the USG Senate and Social Committee immediately took action and began investigating ways to address the situation,” USG President Christian Potter ’22 and USG Social Chair William Gu ’23 wrote in an email to students on Tuesday. “The Senate leadership decided on Monday that, due to the nature of the allegations, the appropriate solution would be to attempt to invite an entirely new main act for this year’s Lawnparties.”
Students reacted in the comments of the USG Social Committee’s announcement on Instagram. Lauren Harris ’25 commented, “This is the type of artist I was looking for,” while Oliwia Morska ’24 thanked USG for their choice.
“His vibe fits Lawnparties so well,” Jack Amen ’25 told The Daily Princetonian. He also remarked that he “didn’t know how USG was able to pull it off in 3 days.”
Ryan Konarska ’25 wrote in a message to the ‘Prince’ that he thought A$AP Ferg was a “good fit.”
“My question is, why didn’t they choose A$AP Ferg originally?” Konarska said. “This seems like a better choice.”
The USG has also announced an Instagram contest where the winning student and two friends will have a chance to meet A$AP Ferg backstage. A similar contest was set to take place with LANY, though many students pointed to the allegations against Klein to criticize the backstage meetup opportunity.
The USG email also reminded students that Lawnparties are closed to the public.
“Only actively enrolled Princeton undergraduate students will be permitted to attend,” the email stated. “In addition, Princeton University graduate students who pre-purchased tickets will be able to attend. This decision has been made for the safety of the campus and local community under administration guidelines.”
USG has listed several of the caterers for this year’s event, which include Coffee Club, Taco Bell, Hotpanada, Rita’s Italian Ice and Soft Pretzels, and the Chabad BBQ.
This article is breaking and will be updated as further information becomes available.
Sidney Singer is a news contributor for the ‘Prince.’ She can be reached at Sidneysinger@princeton.edu or on Instagram at @Sidneysinger.
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