Essence Festival is taking the blame for Lauryn Hill's set being delayed until the wee hours of Friday night (July 4), when she ended up touching the New Orleans Superdome stage after 2:30 a.m. ET first thing Saturday morning.

The organizers of Essence Fest don’t want you to be miseducated about Lauryn Hill. The singer closed out the first night of the festival with a performance that began around 2:30 a.m. Though Hill has a run late for her shows on occasions in the past,

Essence Festival organizers have taken responsibility for a concert that ran so far behind schedule that Lauryn Hill wound up taking the stage at around 2:30 in the morning. Delays completely derailed the opening day of the 31st annual event,