While buying him drugs to get him on stage might be questionable, it’s a lot different than what Birdman was doing. It sounds like Stat wasn’t trying to lose out on money because this guy couldn’t perform, so he did what was necessary to get him out there. That’s not something I would do, but that’s been happening in the music industry for decades.
That’s a lot different than getting a young performer hooked on drugs, so you could get them to sign bad contracts and take deals that are advantageous for management.