By Jordan Levin and Lesley Abravanel
The mystery of the World Music Awards is solved.
It's been canceled once and for all, say organizers.
The official statement: "For 21 years, the World Music Awards was primarily produced in Monte Carlo. This year the Awards ceremony was scheduled to be at the Marlins Park on Saturday, December 22. Event organizer John Martinotti, along with the team on the ground in Miami, reached a decision yesterday to postpone the event: "We are sorry for any inconvenience but this decision had to be made due to logistical and multiple visa issues and in view of this week's national mourning. Fans have been a great support to the artists and have voted online in huge numbers."
A press release issued on Dec. 13 said the WMAs would raise funds for Superstorm Sandy victims and “be beamed to 180 countries reaching a billion viewers.”
Less than two weeks ago it was announced that the Eurocentric event,
usually held in Monaco, would take place on Dec. 20 at Marlins Park.
What wasn't announced was the name of a single performer. A vague press
release over the weekend announced a date change to the 22nd and touted
awards for several big names, including Jennifer Lopez, Earth, Wind
& Fire, Tony Bennett, Gloria Estefan and One Republic (not One
Direction as was mistakenly reported in Scene in the Tropics).
The
only major act promised to actually perform was Bennett. Not so, said a
Rogers and Cowan spokesman for Bennett, saying the famed jazz crooner
was never slated to appear. Mark Young, a past World Music Awards
producer and publicist for Jennifer Lopez and Earth, Wind & Fire
contacted us saying, "Neither Jennifer or EWF are confirmed to
participate on the show. Jennifer has a sold out concert in Puerto Rico
as the final stop for her Dance Again World Tour on December 22. The
show has been sold-out for months.
And a U.S. label publicist for Brazilian star Michel Telo, another act supposedly performing, also said Telo would be a no show.
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