King Labash ‘inexplicably’ axed from Summer Jam Festival 

By Darlington Gatsi

ZIMBABWEAN dancehall musician, Lloyd Muponda, popularly known as King Labash, has suffered a major blow in his ambition to perform at one of the genre’s biggest stages after being inexplicably withdrawn from the SummerJam Festival running.

King Labash was one of a plethora of artists competing for a slot at the Summer Jam Festival, set to be held in Germany from July 4 to 6.

The organisers are running a social media competition for artists to win a performance slot in Cologne.

The winners will perform alongside icons such as Vybz Kartel, Beenie Man, and Shenseea, among others, at the three-day festival.

However, in a move that smacks of sabotage, King Labash has been ejected from the running, with Summer Jam accusing him of faking the traffic in his votes.

In a statement, King Labash said he was disappointed by the “unfair” disqualification without being given an opportunity to defend himself.

“King Labash’s post has been removed from the Summer Jam Instagram page, and he has been unfairly disqualified without warning or a chance to respond.

“This decision lacks transparency, and it’s concerning that out of the three contestants, only one ‘seemingly’ favoured by the organisers remains.

“We believe there was malicious intent from someone who added fake likes to King’s post, leading to his disqualification.

“This was beyond our control, and instead of investigating as per normal procedure, the organisers chose to remove him, even though he had more likes than everyone contesting before the incident,” said King Labash.

The Summer Jam Festival is one of the biggest festivals in the world and would have been a significant boost to Zimbabwean musician’s career.

Burna Boy, Tarrus Riley, Romain Virgo, and Busy Signal are some of the musical heavyweights to have featured at the fiesta.

King Labash’s disqualification has attracted the ire of music enthusiasts, who are calling for the reinstatement of the dancehall artist.