The "WTFTumi" team was celebrating the show's first birthday on Monday evening with supermodel Naomi Campbell and Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage expected to join them.
While Campbell cancelled her appearance on the show well in advance, Savage arrived at the studio only to tell the team that she would not be able to go live at 10pm. The team then scrambled to put together a prerecorded segment, but the singer apparently drove off.
"Tiwa, quite disrespectfully and unapologetically, arrived, said she wouldn't wait for us to go live at 10pm and [and] as we scrambled to prerecord her quickly, she drove off," show host Tumi Morake told HuffPost on Tuesday.
"My only annoyance is that we tailor the games, digital content and stuff around confirmed guests, so when they cancel right there in front of you, it is a huge scramble for everyone and affects other guests."
"The last minute drop was really uncalled for. I was flabbergasted when I was running to studio and a crew member comes to me and says "she has driven off."Tumi Morake
Morake acknowledged that the official Global Citizen Festival launch, which both Campbell and Savage are part of, was also scheduled for Monday night and that there might have been some confusion.
"Considering it was the launch last night, somehow the timelines also don't make sense, I feel like they may not be completely to blame," the comedian said.
However, she says the "last minute drop was really uncalled for. I was flabbergasted when I was running to [the] studio and a crew member comes to me and says, 'she has driven off'. I was like, what? After all of that!"
Morake also expressed her gratitude to singer Simphiwe Dana for filling in for the pair.
"She was totally patient with us. Such a queen!"