Sting promoters Heavy D and Isiah Laing have officially announced that they have cancelled the 2016 staging of the concert and attribute that void in headline acts to the absence of Vybz Kartel from dancehall for the last five years due to his incarceration for murder significantly contributed to the demise of the show.
Since this announcement there have been mix reactions to the cancellation of the show with some vendors disappointed due to the economic opportunities that they will miss on Boxing Day.
“This is a blow to us vendors as I would love the opportunity to eat a food this Christmas,” Don Hamilton a Portmore, St Catherine, resident told the Star.
Venjance, a dancehall artiste, said that “The organisers of Sting should not have abandoned Jamworld. They should have gotten five sounds and give the people Sound clash. They would have got a good crowd,” he said.
According to the Star “Sting’s publicist Keona Williams said that organisers decided to not host the event this year in the same format. She said that the inability to secure a headline act and poor ticket sales as the main reasons for cancellation. Instead of the Sting Jamaicans have grown accustomed to, the show will be a private, black-tie invitation only event.”