A year-long rift between Jumpy Monarch Ricardo Drue and Groovy Tian Winter played on in front of thousands of fans at Carnival City in the wee hours of this morning.
Those who did know about the “beef” between the two became suspicious last night when the two winners did not congratulate the other.
Sportsmanship has always been a feature of the Party Monarch competitions in Antigua but last night Drue and Winter did not so much as look each other in the eye.
They did not shake hands, did not pose for pictures together and did not congratulate each other publicly.
It was meant to be a moment of celebration for the monarchs but it turned out to be an awkward moment that commentators on ABS quickly picked up on.
Antigua News Room understands that the rift dates back to 2016 when Tian won the Jumpy title and Ricardo the groovy.
It is alleged that during his performance, Ricardo made certain remarks about Tian in relation to a battery charge against him. The matter against Winter has since been discontinued.
However, Drue’s alleged comments hit his soca colleague hard and the two haven’t been on cordial terms since.
A member of team Drue told ANR that the Vagabond singer has nothing against the Smooth Criminal.
In fact, the source indicated that Winter was offered to perform at Druesday, an event hosted by Ricardo and he quoted $25 thousand for a handful of songs.
A member of Tian Winter’s camp denied a rift between the two soca winners.
