American rapper Quavo performed for a mere handful of fans at a recent concert, sparking a wild conspiracy theory that his music rival was responsible for the poor turnout.

The former member of the massive hip-hop group Migos also has a slew of solo hits, but it seems that wasn’t enough to coax punters out to a headlining show at Hartford Healthcare Ampitheater in Bridgeport, Connecticut over the weekend.

The venue has an audience capacity of more than 5,700, but in footage from the show, it seemed an audience of barely more than a few hundred had turned up to see the rapper.

Those who did front up crowded together at the front of the stage, with the rest of the venue virtually empty.

The performance happened at Hartford Healthcare Ampitheater in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The venue has an audience capacity of more than 5,700, but footage from the show doesn’t show a full house.

Quavo performed solo without his popular rap group Migos.

So what happened? In the absence of an actual explanation, a far-fetched rumour has circulated on social media that Quavo’s rival Chris Brown had bought up all the tickets to the show, leaving the star to think he’d be stepping on stage to a huge crowd.

“Chris Brown evil for this, apparently he bought all the tickets at the Quavo concert just so the crowd is empty,” one person tweeted.

“Chris Brown bought majority of the tickets for Quavo’s show. This is pure Savagery,” said another fan.

Many others on social media have stated the rumour as fact – although some questioned just how dastardly an act it would be to buy up thousands of tickets to a music rival’s show.

Sure, they’d have to face a near-empty crowd – but you were the one spending a fortune buying all the tickets, with the money going into their pocket.

People online allege Chris Brown bought the majority of the concert tickets so Quavo could perform to an empty crowd.

Brown is yet to publicly comment on the speculation, but it seems logistically unlikely that he’s to blame, especially as fans are interpreting Brown’s alleged act as a response to a diss track Quavo released only three days ago.

It may just be that, despite having sold millions of records solo and as part of Migos, Quavo struggled to shift tickets to this particular show.

And he’s in good company: Only a few weeks ago, another top US rapper, Nelly, made headlines when he performed to a near-empty arena in Florida.