The rapper backed out just one day after John Fogerty did the same.
JAY-Z will not be performing at Woodstock 50.
ET confirmed on Friday that the rapper, who was supposed to close out the three-day anniversary festival, has pulled out, just one day after John Fogerty did the same.
The festival, scheduled for Aug. 16-18, has been plagued with a myriad of organizational issues over the past few months, with the latest being where it's actually taking place. The original site was Watkins Glen International Speedway, but Bloomberg reports it may move to the Merriweather Post Pavillion, a smaller amphitheater in Columbia, Maryland, in an attempt to "salvage the troubled event."
According to documents obtained by the outlet, the venue (which is more than 250 miles from the original location) should be able to accommodate about 32,000 people. Stars like Halsey, Miley Cyrus, Santana and Chance the Rapper were all listed on the anniversary lineup, which was released back in March.
"When we heard that there was an opportunity to save this festival and bring a piece of American history to our community this summer, we jumped at the chance," Howard County Executive Calvin Ball wrote to Greg Peck, one of the Woodstock organizers, in the documents Bloomberg obtained. "Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia is a jewel of Howard County and one of the top music venues in the nation. It felt like such a natural fit to host a historic festival on our storied stage."
As for Fogerty, who was part of the original Woodstock lineup in 1969, he is still planning to travel to upstate New York the weekend of the festival, Variety reports.
"John Fogerty knows where he will be for the anniversary weekend of Woodstock," the singer's team shared in a statement to the outlet. "At only one site … at the original one -- the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. … As he says in his song, 'Who'll Stop the Rain,' written returning from Woodstock: 'No more confusion on the ground.'"
"John is going back to the original site where his name appears on a plaque commemorating that weekend," the statement continued. "John will celebrate his own 50th anniversary as well as Woodstock's, together at Bethel on Aug. 18. Back at the original site that he stepped foot on 50 years ago, nearly to the day!"
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