A senior official has defended the Armenian government’s decision to spend nearly $6 million on a concert by American rapper Snoop Dogg, which was initially scheduled for September 23, 2023, in Yerevan.
The concert was canceled two days after Azerbaijan launched a military offensive in Artsakh on September 19, forcing the entire region’s population to flee to Armenia. Despite the cancellation, Snoop Dogg and his production team received a performance fee of about $3 million.
The remaining funds were paid to the Armenian organizer of the open-air concert, a little-known company called Doping Space. A new contract signed in February with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports commits Doping Space to organizing the concert “in the course of 2024.”
The funds allocated for the concert exceed the annual budgets of most rural communities in Armenia. Critics have condemned the government’s spending as reckless extravagance aimed at distracting Armenians from serious national security issues.
Government officials argue that the expenditure is justified because the concert will enhance Armenia’s international profile and attract thousands of foreign tourists. Arayik Harutiunian, the chief of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s staff, reiterated this point to reporters on Tuesday.
“If we want to become an international tourist destination, we have to make investments in order to develop the sector,” Harutiunian said.
However, Varuzhan Hoktanian, head of Armenia’s leading anti-corruption watchdog affiliated with Transparency International, noted that the contract with Doping Space does not mention tourism.
The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports financed the concert from a special budget intended to promote music and arts with a “national basis.” It did not explain how this relates to Snoop Dogg.
