BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - FORMER Power Soca Monarch Leslie ‘Sugar Bowl’ Morton has indicated that he would pass up on this year’s Carnival Soca Monarch Competition because of several unresolved issues from last year’s event.
According to Morton, he had taken the decision since last year after he, then reigning Groovy King, Mr. Bagnall and several other participants had raised several issues relating to Carnival Chairman Noah Mills and his handling of that particular competition.
The two (Morton and Mr. Bagnall) had spearheaded a charge against Mills for him to soften his handling of the Soca Competition or they would have boycotted the event Finals, because he had allegedly unilaterally made several decisions when the competition had reached the Semi-Final round.
“Why we reached this far is because [of] the Chairman, he does not listen. There is a chat and we would ask questions, and if he doesn’t feel the need to answer, he just hit an ignore button and move on and does whatever he wants. So not listening to us is a really, really serious problem. And also saying things that are not true is one of the biggest things that has really hampered us,” Morton had indicated at a press conference during last year’s event.
During an interview with SKNVibes, the 2015 King explained that shortly after that press conference, he had made up his mind to not defend his crown. However, several of his fans had urged him to go out and do his best and he back peddled on that decision.
Consequently, he used that as the backdrop to not participate this time around because some of the problems back then are still unresolved.
“All in all, I was not happy with the whole controversy,” Morton noted. “I was not happy with the Soca itself. I wasn’t happy with the way the whole competition was going and persons in charge were not listening to the artistes - they were doing what they wanted to do and not listen to what the artistes were saying.”
In addition to the Committee, the outspoken sports broadcaster took a swipe at fellow Soca performers who he blamed for being part of ongoing problems in the Soca arena.
Morton said they had asked both he and Jonas to represent them by airing concerns they had. But in the end, he noted, they did not stand up for what they were fighting for.
“They were not standing up for the Soca Monarch itself and for it to get better. So instead of trying to get in and trying to work in that way again this year, I prefer to stay out and listen to the Carnival.”
His fans had expressed their disappointment over his absence from this year’s competition.
“Most of them were hoping, because most of them knew that I wasn’t participating. After they heard the song that I released, many of them were like, ‘Oh my gosh, that is really a good song, you really need to go back.’”
Morton, who, in 2014, for the first time competed in the Soca Monarch Competition, said he was encouraged by Mr. Bagnal to do so in order to “give it a little more hype. But last year I was angry and upset”.
Morton emphatically stated that his main reason for not competing “is because I prefer to stay out of all controversies”. He however extended best wishes to all competitors in both the Power and Groovy segments.
The competition kicks off on Thursday (Nov. 24) with the eliminations and continues on the following evening.
