Promoters of 2020 Dexta Daps concert: No shade, we just want our refund

Yesterday, we reported on the controversy in the runup of the Dexta Daps concert. The Jamaican recording artiste will still hit the stage the weekend but the promoters of the 2020 concert, which had been cancelled due to COVID-19, say they just want their money back so they can refund their customers who still hold their tickets three years on. As we reported, the artiste was under contract with Belize September Festival Weekend to perform in March 2020. Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, the concert was cancelled. After the pandemic, attempts to set a new date were made but the “Call Me If” singer – whose given name is Louis Grandison – and his management refused.  Deon Longsworth and his partner in this venture, Sheila Pollard hosted a press conference this morning.

Deon “Dj Dixie” Longsworth, Promoter, Belize September Festival Weekend: “We have while the other promotion team is saying we’re trying to put something over the show, nothing like that. I can show you see from October we sent Dexta Daps from October where we are telling him that he needs to settle. Because from the beginning Dexta said whoever booked him has to settle with me so the promoters reached out to my team and they had a meeting. I don’t really like being at the meeting because it’s a lot of ego, this one is big and who has big money so my partner in the meeting and we’re negotiating and we explained to them we don’t worry about all the plane tickets and all the losses all we’re worrying about is the people. If you could just give them the ticket to allow them to go to the show and give us back the deposit everything else that we lost we consider it a loss. The people did say alright we don’t mind giving you back the little small money but on principle. Now keep in mind now this guy that is investing is not even a Belizean, he is like “Oh I could bring Burna Boy, I could bring Buju, I could bring -” like that has nothing to do with us whatever you could bring bring. Our thing is that people bought Dexta Daps tickets and we want the people to be happy.”

Without settling the matter with Belize September Festival Weekend, Longsworth says the artiste signed a new contract with the organisers of this weekend’s concern without settling him and his partners. On Friday, Belize September Festival Weekend then filed an injunction, which has now been dismissed by the court. Longsworth and Pollard say they are not trying to cast doubt on this weekend’s program, they just want what’s rightfully for their customers. 

Deon “Dj Dixie” Longsworth, Promoter, Belize September Festival Weekend:  “We tried. We tried. We sent out the letter, we tried in all types of ways. We said we don’t want it to reach the media, I don’t want to have to post. You know any regular Belizean with the information I have it would have been out there. The minute they hear a hear in there they would have put it out there to get that buzz to try to put a cloud over the people’s other show. I’m not about that. So we started in the US started doing legal stuff but when we figured they were coming home it’s like you feel like “Oh you will still come here.” so make a start here. I don’t want to discuss the legal part of the thing but we have more than enough grounds because it’s not like they’re telling us you don’t have grounds it’s just you know you’re missing a dot but come back. But we don’t want to discuss the legal part of it but we have more than enough ground and like I said the main thing is to tell people what is happening and inform the people to go on the Belize September Festival Weekend page and we will get them all the details with their refund.”

Sheila Pollard, Ms.Go Getter Entertainment: “We’re trying to make it right and make our people understand that we tired to work with them because like I said we sold tickets you understand ? And we want them to understand that we’re fighting for them. You know we wanted to help them in this situation but it’s out of hand. You know we tried to give them like I said he is the -“

Deon “Dj Dixie” Longsworth, Promoter, Belize September Festival Weekend: “Everybody thought we had the settlement because one spell they said “We will settle.” and that is what killed time and when they got to the table they started to cry and that is what got us right back.”

Late this evening, Dexta Daps himself penned a Facebook post, which says in part  “I never planned to address this craziness in Belize, but being called a thief isn’t on the resume…so let’s start it with the (unsigned) contract you provided me…[please] pay close attention to who you sent your money to…also please understand that you didn’t even have a signed contract with them [people]…if you want me to continue with the proofs then I will…can’t wait to perform in Belize this Saturday, Feb. 11” Unquote