Black Sherif and Cruise People's court case postponed until November 16

According to Joy FM, when the parties came before the Adenta High Court earlier yesterday, Judge, Her Ladyship Mariama Sammo ruled that the legal arguments should be written down and submitted by November 2, 2023, rather than being heard verbally by the Plaintiff and Defendant.

Defendant (Black Sherif) had filed a motion claiming that Ghana (and the high court in Adenta for that matter) lacked jurisdiction to decide the issue since, in his view, the contract for his services required that any legal procedures be adjudicated in the United Kingdom.

Through counsel, Cruise People Limited also submitted an affidavit in opposition, arguing that the Adenta High Court had jurisdiction over the matter because both parties are Ghanaians and conduct business there.

The plaintiff Daniel Vanderpuye, Black Sherif's road manager Frederick Osei aka Aubrey, the CEO of Cruise People Limited, and their attorneys were present. 

Cruise People vs Black Sherif

Black Sherif was accused of breaching the terms of the contract, which led to the cancelation of the Afro Cruise Jam performance he was set to perform at in August 2023.

As a result, the corporation is asking for $100,000 in damages for losses incurred. 

According to Cruise People Limited, after paying half of Black Sherif's booking fee ($20,000) and reserving him for the cruise, the 'Kwaku The Traveller' hitmaker was required to film a video announcing his attendance at the event in Greece.

According to Vandepuje, the company paid $18,000 to reserve cabins on the cruise and GH65,000 to Joy FM for the premiere on Drive Time after receiving guarantees that Black Sherif would provide the film prior to the media launch on May 19.

Vanderpuye described how it all began by saying that he had contacted Black Sherif's staff about the idea of him playing on a cruise ship as part of an event he was organizing for Ghanaians living abroad.

He revealed to Kwame Dadzie of Joy FM that an agreed date of August 19 and a payment of $40,000 were made after initial conversations with Blacko's team, which was led by one Mini Aidoo.

But, the singer’s team, he said, wanted a down payment of $20,000 and subsequently asked them to communicate with Eko Talent Agency, a company responsible for all overseas bookings for Black Sherif.

Mr Vanderpuye said they were sent a contract to sign by the booking agency to confirm their intentions and thereafter the initial deposit was wired as requested.

The businessman said that following the contract signing they fulfilled their end of the bargain and expected Black Sherif to do the same by confirming his participation with a 10-15 seconds video that would be used for ads.

He stated that the booking agency assured them the video will be made available prior to a media launch on May 19.

“The contract was signed on April 28, and we were expecting to have the video between the week of the 10th of May. We were in communication with Eko Talent and they kept telling us we will get the video until the d-day of our media launch and they forced Black Sherif to make a video call to me,” he said.

Mr Vanderpuye said Black Sherif in the presence of his manager informed him they had other interview obligations in the US [where he was at the time] and thus could only make the video available after.

That request did not sit well with the businessman since he had requested the video weeks earlier. However, he noted that despite agreeing to the new plan, the video was still not made available to them.

“The next day, I realised that something was going on, so I called our lawyers and said let's write to them. So, on May 22 we sent this breach of agreement letter to them.”

He stated that despite the contract violation, they were prepared to make any improvements or any suggestions.

Mr. Vanderpuye claimed that over the course of two months, he had attempted to contact Black Sherif and his team via every channel open to him, including business leaders like Gramps Morgan, Amakye Dede, and Sadiq Abdulai Abu.