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The Eman­ci­pa­tion Sup­port Com­mit­tee of Trinidad and To­ba­go (ES­CTT) has voiced strong sup­port for Helon Fran­cis, the 2025 Ca­lyp­so Monarch, fol­low­ing the dis­rup­tion of his per­for­mance at Di­manche Gras on Car­ni­val Sun­day night.

ES­CTT de­scribed the in­ter­rup­tion as “strange” and ques­tioned whether it was po­lit­i­cal­ly mo­ti­vat­ed. The Com­mit­tee not­ed that Min­is­ter in the Prime Min­is­ter’s Of­fice, Bar­ry Padarath, had re­mind­ed the pub­lic that Di­manche Gras is a State-spon­sored event, but cau­tioned against in­ter­pret­ing State sup­port as State con­trol.

The dis­rup­tion oc­curred as Fran­cis per­formed lines ad­dress­ing cen­sor­ship and so­cial is­sues: