The much-an­tic­i­pat­ed ap­pear­ance of Adid­ja “Vy­bz Kar­tel” Palmer at the sold-out One Caribbean Mu­sic Fes­ti­val at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah (QPS) in Port-of-Spain end­ed in dis­ap­point­ment yes­ter­day, as the dance­hall star failed to take the stage.

While his ab­sence was blamed on the pro­mot­er’s al­leged fail­ure to pay the full US$1.35 mil­lion fee, or­gan­is­ers in­sist­ed that US$950,000—more than three-quar­ters of the amount—had al­ready been de­liv­ered.

Palmer, who was ad­ver­tised as the main act in the event, was said to have been paid up­front and had been ex­pect­ing the re­main­der of the monies by yes­ter­day.