Derrick May appearing at any event is a frightening prospect to his alleged victims. And the prospect of him showing up to play on Halloween night – supposedly the scariest night of the year – was certainly no joke to them.

Let’s not forget on this Monday morning that this is a man facing multiple allegations of sexual assault and rape from multiple sources. Let’s not forget these are allegations which he has never categorically denied, despite now having had two years to comment on the claims. Let’s also not forget May seems determined to believe his career should continue as if this whole sordid chapter never existed.

Over the weekend, Ears To The House took another look at a story which we published last week. On Wednesday, we covered the fact he was due to play on October 31st at an event in Portugal – as first exclusively revealed by Michael James. On Thursday, we reported how the event organisers had put out a statement saying the lineup was being changed, whilst being incredibly vague on the exact reasons why.

What’s going on here? Wouldn’t it be easier to just say “After being made aware of the allegations concerning Derrick May, we felt it would be inappropriate for him to appear, and he will not now do so”? Well, yes – but if what two Detroit sources told us yesterday is anything to go by, money is a factor on the line.

According to one source close to Derrick May, he said “No one wants to draw any more attention to the allegations here. Not the organisers, definitely not Derrick himself. He just wants to move on from this episode. I think there’s a kind of gentleman’s agreement saying Derrick gets to keep some of his booking fee if something gets said about it. ”.

Another source suspects that May’s manager, Hagi Craig, has requested nothing is said by the events organisers. They said “Hagi owns a whole agency full of talent. It’s possible one of them could be offered up for the gig if Derrick can’t do it for whatever reason. Part of that deal could be to keep quiet.”.

All we know for certain at the moment is that Derrick May’s appearance at the venue can’t be taken off the table. He has form for turning up even when the gig has been cancelled – last year, the Detroit Historical Society pulled the plug on his appearance at an event commemorating the city’s techno scene.

May’s response was to turn up anyway and sit in the front row. We understand he was even invited to speak at one point. Proof, as if any was required, is that May has a different definition of the word “cancel” to the rest of us…