Despite Valentine’s Day already passing, Verzuz goes down tonight(February 15th) as the holiday special with Anthony Hamilton and Musiq Soulchild.
Of course Verzuz watchers are anticipating an entertaining show with the soul singers, but they did not expect a new change to the format. Over on Instagram, Verzuz shared on its page that the Hamilton and Soulchild show wouldn’t technically be a free event.
The change to Verzuz includes no longer seeing the show on Instagram Live like in the past. Going forward fans can only see the HD version of the event one way.
“THIS VERZUZ WILL NOT BE ON IG. Watch on VERZUZTV.COM with the #TrillerVerzPass (LINK IN BIO to sign-up for a 14-DAY trial),” they penned in the comments. Fans of the series did not take this news well and let their voices be heard on several social media platforms. People complained about capitalism ruining a celebratory experience while others berated Timbaland and Swizz Beatz. Many have sworn off Verzuz and shared they did not plan on tuning in if it required some form of subscription or payment.
Swizz Beatz ended up going on social media to quell the backlash received after the subscription announcement. Swizz jumped online to clear up speculations- he says he was out the country when that announcement was made. He says, “See y’all rite here tomorrow on insta @verzuztv Who y’all rocking with @anthonyhamiltonofficial or @musiqsoulchild ? You can also watch in HD on verzuztv.com . I was out the country don’t ask me who did it it’s fixed bless up love y’all..”
Check out the reactions below.
y’all really bullied Verzuz into streaming for free on IG tonight 🤣🤣🤣
— Brittany H. (@britth1987) February 15, 2022
Thank you Timbaland and Swizz for screwing up something organic and black owned with #Verzuz by selling out to first corporate sponsorship and then just selling out to Triller
NOBODY is paying to watch a VERZUZ battle. Nobody pic.twitter.com/aIfXb2dPUw
— P. Prefers Country Pleasin Over Conecuh🤘🏿🕊 (@chillin662) February 15, 2022
On Black History Month at that
— Nick Alexander (@NickOfComedy) February 15, 2022
Verzuz: “To watch…sign up now…14 day trial included…don’t wait”
ME: pic.twitter.com/Q34lluTtOv
— Bleenex and Blorox Bleach 🏁 (@Nictheegr8) February 15, 2022
Paying for #Verzuz!? Nah pic.twitter.com/yA199fzPMD
— deeLAsoul (@MsSAG2u) February 15, 2022
Pay for Verzuz? Im over it. I appreciated the authenticity of it when it was 2 artist with the phone propped up. Network issues and all.
— •JAI• (@lovejai24k) February 15, 2022
Swizz Beatz when he saw his IG notifications blow up this morning about Verzuz: pic.twitter.com/fKfeGvzKDv
— 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚊𝚜𝚝. (@travisfromdabk_) February 15, 2022
Bullying works! They tried it. https://t.co/HHo4Kv79Jt
— Jamaela ♏️✨ (@Jamaelaa_) February 15, 2022