Taylor Swift sued for keeping money from canceled show

Music promoters tried to organize a massive country music festival in Ottawa and claim that they even paid Taylor Swift $2.5 million upfront to get her to play. But now, the promoters have canceled the show–and they're suing Swift to get some money back, TMZ reported. Swift was supposed to be a headliner at the concert, called the Capital Hoedown music festival.

But is this really a case of Taylor Swift robbery, or is it just an attention-grabbing tactic from a sleazy concert company? Taylor Swift's representatives tell TMZ a different story–that she never made a deal with the ticket company.

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The suit was filed by Florida-based ticketing company FIRE USA Inc., which is caught up in a legal battle of its own. FIRE sued Swift only after getting sued themselves by a credit card payment processing company that was held liable for refunding tickets to fans for the canceled show, PIX11 reported. The credit card company, Evo, alleges that FIRE refused to turn over $1.8 million in refunded ticket costs.

It was festival organizer Denis Benoit who canceled the event in July 2012, the Ottawa Citizen reported. But FIRE says it was all Swift's fault, claiming that Swift and her management company, Messina Group, struck a deal with them to play the show, but then flaked: "Swift and/or through her agent Messina refused to perform and/or reschedule a new appearance,” which “amounted to a breach” of that contract, the lawsuit claims, according to the Ottawa Citizen. 

It's not clear who is telling the truth because none of the allegations have been proven in court.