Who owns Area 29? Drake spent $1 million at strip club days after Astroworld tragedy
Just hours after the concert was canceled, Travis Scott and Drake were seen at an afterparty, leading to widespread condemnation. That fury has now only grown, after it was reported that Drake attended another party, at a strip club in Houston a day after the Astroworld stampede, by which time it was already being reported people had died. The news has put Drake's apology in a new light, for which the singer was previously praised.
Shots of Drake at the club are just the latest update to the growing controversy around the singer, and Scott, for their roles at Astroworld on November 5. Both singers are now facing multiple lawsuits, and their silence in the immediate aftermath didn't go down well with fans. The stampede occurred on November 5, and by November 6 there were reports of several deaths. But it was only on November 9 that Drake apologized, issuing a brief statement via Instagram.
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So what was he doing for the last four days? Well, according to The Sun, the singer was busy partying with his crew at a strip club in town. Now-deleted posts show Drake at Area 29, much to the delight of the dancers there. It is believed the singer is a regular to the club, and even went there a week prior to his Astroworld appearance.
Who owns Area 29?
It's unclear who exactly owns the strip club. OpenGuv records indicate the club is owned by the firm RHOH LLC, which is also based in Houston. The firm is linked to agent Larry D. White, with Tiauna Arnett and Tiffany White listed as managing members. Little data is available about these people, so we can't say for sure who they are, or if they have any links to Drake. It is believed the company was recently renamed to 'Who Want The Smoke'.
We did find several tweets and Reddit posts saying the owner of the bar is Earl Thomas, the former Seattle Seahawks player. That does seem to be true, based on Thomas' own Instagram account. In November 2020, he put up a video saying "Grand opening this Wednesday November 25th." He followed that up with another photo from the opening. However, the Instagram account Thomas tagged is no longer active, while the bar Drake visited does appear to have an active account.
The logo from Thomas' posts also seems to match the one of Area 29 that Drake visited, so it is possible Thomas did or does still own the bar and that it simply created a new Instagram account, but we could not verify this. The last post Thomas made about the club was in December 2020, while the current Area 29 Instagram account has been posting content from well before Thomas opened his bar.
'Two floors covered with money'
On November 7, the Area 29 Instagram account posted, "Two floors covered with money and EVERY DANCER who worked last night went home happy. Thank y'all for the love and support. WE RUNNING IT BACK 2 NIGHT! SUNDAY FUNDAY." That post is still up, while another, which has now been deleted tags Drake. "Thank u @champagnepapi @roddyricch @dontoliver @ubk.ent @lira_galore @realberniceburgos @realamarie @kayykilo @turkeyleghut @bookedbymolo last night vibes was on point GRAND FINALE TONIGHT SUNDAY FUNDAY" the bar posted. The handle @champagnepapi belongs to Drake.
It didn't take long for The Sun to discover Drake was indeed at the party, thanks to another Instagram post by his friend DJ Akademiks. The now-deleted video shows beaming dancers counting cash, while a man can be heard saying "Say thanks Drake!". Reportedly, the singer and his team dropped around a million dollars that night, but the exact amount is unclear. The party occurred less than 48 hours after the tragedy, which has led to some condemnation online.
Drake hasn't responded to the allegations, but the fact that the two posts have now been taken down is raising a lot of eyebrows. It is believed the singer also went to Dave & Buster's with Scott right after the concert was canceled. As we reported earlier, Scott left the party when someone told him about the tragedy, but it was unclear if Drake did as well. Either way, his presence at Area 29 puts his apology in the spotlight. Drake claimed to spend "the past few days trying to wrap my head around this devastating tragedy", but we now know at least one day, that's not where his head was.