An emotional TC (Terencia Coward) claimed she feared for her safety and that of her dancing crew at Bushy Park on Sunday, which led to a decision not to perform in the controversial Soca Royale face-off.She gave her views to the country by calling into the television programme Festival Stage, hosted by Anthony Admiral Nelson, yesterday morning.The artiste revealed that she had to be escorted from the St Philip venue by four police officers and had to be also escorted to her home under police guard on Sunday night, a clear indication to her that the decision not to perform was the right one.The veteran singer, who had easily won the Sweet Soca competition earlier in the day but was booed by the crowd, also denied breaching her contract by not joining Party Monarch winner Anderson Blood Armstrong on stage to be part of a “battle royale” to determine an overall winner.Blood won the battle royale, taking home an $89 000 car without facing an opponent.“I stand by my decision,” TC said on the show. “I wasn’t going to take that kind of risk.”But head of the event’s security, Louis Sealy, yesterday said that artistes should have had nothing to fear. “Security never came into question,” he said during a television interview. “There were adequate security personnel there, and ready to act if necessary. We had a number of private security on hand, as well as on-duty police officers, and a medical team. Security was even increased every time artistes went back stage,” Sealy contended.Reacting to being booed after being declared the Sweet Soca winner, TC said the days of believing Barbadians’ bark was worse than their bite were over based on the behaviour of many of the 15 000 people who attended Sunday’s event. “I’m hurt. I’m disappointed in my people, but I had to be true to myself,” she told Nelson.TC said she made the decision to step away, as other people who had come off the stage informed her of the crowd’s continued behaviour regarding her being named the Sweet Soca winner.She noted that both she and her dancers had changed attire and were ready to go back on, but after speaking with management, she decided against it. “The decision was one geared not to put anyone at risk. My integrity is important to me,” TC argued.She added that when she did go on stage to embrace Blood and congratulate him as Party Monarch winner, the crowd had calmed down but as soon as the music for her song Down De Road started, the crowd acted up again, which also impacted on her decision not to perform with Blood.TC also revealed she received legal advice, having read the rules of the competition, and didn’t feel she broke her contract by not engaging in the face-off with Blood. “Nowhere does it say I had to perform in the battle royale,” TC contended.She noted that in the hours after her decision she had been bombarded by calls, chats, texts and even messages on the social network Facebook, indicating she made the right decision if she feared for her safety. (BA)
