The Live Nation ticketing employee who told a coworker that some of the company’s customers were “so stupid” called his remarks “very immature and unacceptable” during testimony at the company’s antitrust trial on Tuesday. He was also seen bragging that the company was “robbing them blind, baby,” in internal messages from 2022 that were presented in the trial.
Benjamin Baker, head of ticketing for Venue Nation, is a key witness as the claims from over 30 states continue against Live Nation in the wake of the Justice Department’s surprise settlement of its case against the company. A Manhattan federal judge rejected Live Nation’s earlier efforts to exclude Baker’s messages from the trial.
According to the Associated Press, Jeffrey Kessler, a lawyer for the states, grilled Baker over the messages, which related to Live Nation’s price for access to the VIP area of a show at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa. In the messages, Baker also called the prices “outrageous” and wrote that “I almost feel bad taking advantage” of customers, before adding, “BAHAHAHAHAHA.”
Confronted about the messages, the AP said Baker became emotional and his voice briefly broke as he said, “I used very immature and regrettable language and that was not the language I was trying to convey.”
“You could have charged $25!” Kessler said, after Baker replied that his “poor immature language” was merely “conveying my surprise that the market dictated fans were willing to pay $50 to park closer.”
Later, when Baker spoke of a rise in revenues from the sale of such amenity services, Kessler read Baker’s words back to him, saying: “What you were really doing was ‘robbing them blind, baby.’”
Baker, who has been promoted twice since the messages took place, said that he “speaking for myself, not Live Nation as a whole.”
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Live Nation had previously attempted to have the statements excluded from the trial, saying they reflected “off-the-cuff banter, not policy.”
Variety will have more on the situation as it develops.
From Variety US