Fans will have to wait a little longer to snag tickets to Why Don’t We’s 2022 North American tour. Previously slated to launch in Salt Lake City this June, the band took to social media on Tuesday (April 5) to state that ticket sales — which were set to go on sale this Friday — would be postponed due to ongoing litigation between the group’s current and former managers.
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“Due to legal complications, we have been forced to postpone the pre-sale and public on-sale of our 2022 North American tour,” the message reads. “We hope to announce new pre-sale and public on-sale dates as soon as possible.”
The group adds that they “are extremely disappointed at this turn of events, since all we want to do is create and release new music and perform for our fans and friends, who have been our greatest supporters through the good times and the bad ones. This is our life’s goal, in addition to meeting all of you in your cities, as we have not yet been able to do for the last 2 years.”
The ongoing litigation the band references are the dueling lawsuits between Why Don’t We’s current manager Randy Phillips and their former manager (and Phillips’ longtime partner) David Loeffler. The two men are suing each other over control of the band’s management as well as their companies Signature Entertainment and PDM III — which have the exclusive right to “direct and control” both the band and the solo careers of Why Don’t We’s five members, as well as of the group’s music, its masters and all its revenue streams.
According to a lawsuit Loeffler filed on Aug. 17, the five members of Why Don’t We — Jack Avery, Corbyn Besson, Zach Herron, Jonah Marais and Daniel Seavey — are refusing to sign a recording agreement with Atlantic Records or perform as a group until Phillips is reinstated as the group’s sole manager. Loeffler is suing all five members for anticipatory breach of contract and suing Phillips for tortious interference with a business relationship over the band’s refusal to sign the Atlantic deal.
Meanwhile, Phillips’s lawsuit alleges Loeffler abused members of Why Don’t We and “irreparably damaged” the management company they created by engaging in “nightmarish behavior,” including “daily verbal abuse, screaming at them at the top of his lungs, sometimes for 10-20 minutes.” Phillips’ suit also claims Loeffler “forced the five members to share two small bedrooms, even though the house had a spare, unused bedroom that was upstairs.”
The members of Why Don’t We came forward to detail their alleged abuse in September. The social media post claims the band was monitored 24/7, that their food was restricted and that they were verbally abused daily. That same month, the group petitioned the California Labor Commission to throw out its contract with Loeffler and management company Signature Entertainment for violating the state’s Talent Agencies Act. They are asking the labor commission to rule that the contracts are unenforceable and that Signature Entertainment has no right to compensation from the band because neither Loeffler nor his colleague Steven Miller obtained a signed talent agency agreement with the group’s five members.
Last week, Why Don’t We announced plans to tour across North America this summer. The route would have taken them through major cities including Chicago, Toronto, Boston, Austin and Los Angeles.
“We have been working day and night to find a way to perform for you…and we don’t stop until we are able to do so,” today’s message continues. “We love you!! Thank you for sticking with us.”