Sizzla Refutes TT Promoter’s Allegations Of ‘Equal Kartel Pay’ As A ‘Blatant Lie’

Reggae icon Sizza Kalonji has emphatically denied allegations made by JACHO Entertainment, organisers of the One Caribbean Music Festival in Trinidad, that he requested that he be paid the same amount as headlining act Vybz Kartel who was a no-show at the ill-fated festival.

Sizzla clarified that his team had only requested the agreed 50 per cent payment outlined in their contract.

“We simply said to the promoter in a meeting, when he still didn’t offer to pay us the 50 per cent of our original contractual amount, that he should pay us the 50 per cent that he was going to pay the artiste that was to headline the show and didn’t appear and I will headline the show,” Sizzla said via his Instagram account.

In a recent interview with ET&T, Promoter Odane Anderson claimed that Sizzla and his team requested to be paid the same amount as headlining performer Vybz Kartel.

JACHO Entertainment dropped a bombshell announcement last Saturday when it was stated that Kartel, who had pulled out from the festival due to contractual obligations, had commanded a staggering US$1.35 million.

However, Sizzla stated in the post that he was not even paid a 50-per-cent downpayment.

“Despite our contract for a 50 per cent down payment, I had started the show with 10 per cent down, which is not acceptable, all because of Trinidad, and you still didn’t give us the 50 per cent owed to us even at my arrival at the hotel,” he said.

Sizzla’s comments echoed the experiences of other artists who were on the show who complained that they were abandoned by the promoter who didn’t even allot per diem monies owed to them or their entourages.

Sizzla said he and his team had been in talks with the promoter even up to the 11th hour when the concert was about to begin.

“We waited and waited and nothing happened; I fell asleep, lol (laugh out loud),” the Praise Ye Jah singer said.

In closing, Sizzla declared his love for Trinidad and its people saying “we love Trinidad, One Love Trinidad”.

During the past week, Sizzla said he had used the time wisely to compile an album with “some very talented local acts”.

The Rise to the Occasion artiste will be performing at the Sizzla and Friends concert this Saturday (June 7th) at SoundForge in Port of Spain, Trinidad.