Dancehall Artists Fully Bad, Honormosity Charged After Sting Brawl
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has confirmed that Dancehall artists Fully Bad and Honormosity and two patrons were charged with disorderly conduct following a brawl at the Sting 2023 in the wee hours of Wednesday morning at the Jamworl Entertainment Centre in Portmore, St. Catherine.
According to the report, around 6:30 a.m., 27-year-old Nicholas ‘Fully Bad’ Bartley and 39-year-old Layton ‘Honormosity’ Simms were performing when a fight started.
Two patrons— 39-year-old Rushane Williams and 32-year-old Nicholas Bartley—joined which resulted in a disruption of the event. The police intervened, and all four men were arrested and charged.
They are scheduled to appear before the St. Catherine Parish Court on Wednesday, January 24, 2024.
The promoters of Sting have yet to issue an official statement on the matter.
The brawl has left many social media users expressing outrage at what they describe as ineffective booking of artists.
“2 waste man mash up the event. The whole Dancehall fraternity has to deal with the public lashings,” said @kiz_instyle on X. “This is what happened when you give unprofessional ppl with nothing to lose a big platform they were not even good enough for naah buss hr, WTF are they doing on Sting stage 😑”
Added another social media user, “We need to have a serious discussion about the state of dancehall. The sub-par organization of events, the lacklustre artists/songs, coupled with this type of behaviour are all clear indicators that something is wrong. We can’t continue like this, family 🤷🏾♂️”
Meanwhile, one more online user suggested that a physical altercation was avoidable by all parties involved, even if the situation triggered intense emotions.
“Who are they? If vybz and mavado refrained from fighting each other in 2008 im certain there’s absolutely no reason for THIS.”
Other users made reference to the infamous Sting clash between Dancehall giants Vybz Kartel and Mavado.
“When Kartel and Mavado was beefing they let the lyrics do the talking at sting 😮💨😮💨”
After last year’s staging, Reggae/Dancehall and University of the West Indies Professor Donna P. Hope, had called on the organizers Supreme Promotions to put a permanent closure to the event.
Among her reasons were a sub-par line-up and inexperienced emcees; below-par production, poor scheduling of artists, and substandard stage management.
“Poor lineup, poor production, poor running order organization, poor stage management, inexperienced hosts, unsettled artiste contracts, no-shows etc. This cannot be it. Sting is in an existential crisis. It is time to pack it in,” Professor Hope declared on Instagram at the time.
Despite the unfavourable ending of the 40th anniversary show, there were solid sets throughout the night from established Dancehall acts such as Macka Diamond, I Waata, Jahshii, Najeeriii, Pablo YG, Bounty Killer, Capleton, and D’Angel,
Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange was also present in the audience to show her support.