HAS IRIE JAMBOREE BANNED VEGAS?

The I Am Blessed singjay Mr. Vegas expressed surprise when contacted this morning about a rumoured ban instituted against him by organisers of the Irie Jamboree concert in Queens, New York after it emerged that he had lambasted their poor organisation of the show on the social networking site, Twitter.

Vegas said that he was upset that he had not been allowed to perform even though he had arrived at the venue hours before his scheduled performance time. He reacted with anger to allegations by the promoters that he had walked out of the venue after being asked to perform during a different time slot.

"I did not walk out, I waited until the show ended, when Tarrus Riley went up to perform on Freddie McGregor's band and then I left. If they want to ban me, it is what it is," Vegas said.

No official word has come from the promoters yet, however, insiders say that they are peeved at Vegas' statements, especially in light of the fact that he performed on the Irie Jamboree float during the annual Labour Day parade. Mr. Vegas took the opportunity to apologise to his fans who wanted to see him perform at Irie Jamboree.

“I just want to apologise to my fans who wanted to see me perform but it was not my fault. I was at the venue at six pm and the lineup said I was going to go up at 8 pm followed by Sean Paul and Tarrus Riley would close the show. I was there waiting backstage and mi see the thing get drawn out, and then all of a sudden, Sean Paul arrive at the venue and the stage managers whisked him straight onto the stage,” he said.

“That is the height of disrespect. I was there for more than two hours waiting. The stage manager suggested that I work with Freddie McGregor’s band who knows nothing of my songs, or for me to work on a sound system. How could I do that? The man dem fly mi go New York, pon Air Jamaica flight that delay fi 32 hours, and then mi have mi band ah practice three times a day and den dem waan me go onstage without my band. How that fi work? How would it look for me to work on a sound system? I am a professional,” he ranted.

Mr. Vegas said that this was the second time that he was being slighted by the organizers of Irie Jamboree.

“The first time it happen I was at the peak of my career with Hot Wuk and Tek Weh Yuself, and they gave me only five minutes to perform. Now this time, I wasn’t even given a chance to perform. Sean Paul performed for 45 minutes and draw out the ting, and mi no get no chance to perform. All when the show done, the people dem stand up and ah look and a wonder if the show over,” he said.

Mr. Vegas said that he is particularly incensed at this egregious disrespect in light of the fact that he had pulled out all the stops to make it to the annual show.

“I actually cancelled shows so that I could do Irie Jamboree and this is the thanks I get? Come on!” he said.