DJ Gordo in Hot Water After Ministry of Sound Events

The electronic music community has been divided into two parts over Ministry of Sound’s last weekend event, where DJ Gordo headlined. 

Formerly known as Carnage, the electronic DJ shot through the stratosphere this summer, when he produced some tracks for rapper Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind album. But nowadays, he hits the headlines for not wanting to come off the stage. 

Last weekend, DJ Gordo was in the British capital for a one-hour set at the Ministry of Sound.

But he deliberately went past its allotted time, transforming his performance into a three-and-a-half-hour set and cutting the performances of the two DJs who were supposed to mix after him.

Waze and Essel, two British DJs, were forced to watch DJ Gordo from the sidelines as he reportedly refused to come off the stage.

According to one of Waze’s tweets, the music producer didn’t even acknowledge him and told the promoter, “I’m not f-ing coming off.” 

Since DJ Gordo played over the two artists’ time slots, they had to abandon their sets. Liverpool-based artist Essel took to social media to express her disappointment towards Gordo’s behavior, saying she drove 10 hours for her debut set. 

“My set time was 5-6am and I had friends there and people who had come down just to support. As time passed it was clear that Gordo wasn’t coming off stage for the next artist, not only this but he then refused to come off my slot.” 

Waze was also vocal about getting his set chopped, saying that in his decade-long career, he has “never seen this level of entitlement or arrogance.”

“At the start of this I just wanted to really explain (someone had text me) why I wasn’t djing when I was meant to be; and the fact it wasn’t me playing tape the top 40 tech house 4-5am.”

After he found himself in hot water, DJ Gordo also broke his silence, explaining his side of the story in a Twitter statement.

He quoted miscommunication as the root of the problem, saying that the organizers offered him a flexible schedule.

The Berlin-based DJ further added that he has done extended sets ranging from three to 10 hours to “give my fans the best show experiences possible.”

Fans flooded the comments section, most pointing the finger at the differences between his story and the one told by the two other DJs. 

One user said, “If you are a headliner, do you not know whos playing and when?” while another affirmed that “the community wants you to take accountability and apologize, not shift the blame on others.”

The electronic artist community hasn’t been silent about the issue either.

Luca Lush joked about the situation in a Tweet, saying, “Rumor has it Gordo is still playing his set at ministry of sound to this day, making it the longest DJ set of all time.”

Tech house DJ Zoe London also took to social media to express her point of view on Gordo’s apology.

“Sorry but I just don’t think gordo is anyones favourite dj anyway. especially not after that horrendous ‘apology.’ just ugh. I have to say as a female in the scene it has renewed a lot of faith in how many prominent male djs have spoken up against his behaviour.”