Ari Lennox commiserated with Flo Milli, who walked off stage after fans threw items at the rapper while she performed at Gunna’s Bittersweet Tour stop in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday (May 4). Lennox faced similar fan behavior while opening for Rod Wave in 2023.
“Flo Milli I’m sorry this happened to you,” Lennox wrote on Instagram Stories. “You are a beautiful and incredibly talented woman. Some of these people can be so damn cruel.”
The incident brought back bad memories for Lennox, who reflected on her time touring with Rod Wave in a subsequent post. Lennox admitted she was upset with Rod Wave for never defending her or reprimanding his fans for their antics.
“Maybe I could’ve gotten over some of Rod Wave’s evil, racist and demonic fans, but what made it even worse is Rod saying nothing in my defense,” she wrote. “Privately or publicly. The only reason we met was because we ran into each other in a Hotel Lobby after constant efforts of me trying to share my gratefulness for the opportunity. I never had issues with fans being violent or evil towards me while opening up for legendary singers and legendary Hip-Hop acts. Those were some of the best tours of my life and really taught me how to sing better.”
She continued, “I’m use to men rarely defending me publicly, but it was a triggering experience nonetheless … I was so blessed to be protected and spoiled by Dreamville on those tours. I didn’t know how easy I had it. And I’m also aware that half of the mess I end up in I’m solely responsible for. Doesn’t make the disrespect feel good or valid.”
Lennox declared she would never be an opener again to her poor experience with Rod Wave’s fans. She called on all headliners to stand up for their opening acts.
“To protect my peace I will never open up for a soul again,” she wrote. “STOP disrespecting openers. STOP creating excuses as to why these openers get violated on stage ‘maybe she shouldn’t have been on that tour?’ This makes the disrespect and violence to Black women valid? Headliners, protect your openers.”
Gunna publicly supported Flo Milli unlike Rod Wave’s handling of Lennox’s situation. Gunna said he refused to tolerate disrespect against Flo Milli in X (formerly known as Twitter) post.