LUKE HUMPHRIES has kissed and made up with James Wade following their lickgate storm.
Cool Hand Luke was not impressed when the Machine licked his neck during an embrace before this month’s UK Open quarter-final clash at Butlin’s Minehead.
ITVJames Wade LICKS Luke Humphries during the UK Open quarter-final[/caption]
GettyHumphries insists he has cleared the air with James Wade[/caption]
Wade, 41, won that tie 10-9 but the incident went viral on social media and he could be disciplined for his actions by the Darts Regulation Authority.
Yet Humphries, 30, is happy to forget about that and get involved in Wade’s charity event in Hampshire on August 22 – “Let’s talk bipolar: An audience with stars” – if he can make it work with his family’s diary.
The fundraiser comes after two World Series of Darts events Down Under this summer.
Asked if he and Wade had kissed and made up, the world No.1 replied: “Yes.”
Pressed for his reaction on what occurred live on TV, he said: “You know, things happened in the game. Obviously, not the lick on the neck like everyone thought it was.
“But that’s water under the bridge now. You see each other the next week and we’re fine.
“These things happen in darts. We’ve seen it many, many times over the years where two players have had a disagreement and they’re friends again.
“So, yeah, we’re fine now.”
“He’s asked me if I could do his event and I said, yeah, I think so, as long as I haven’t booked a holiday, because it’s straight after Australia.
“I said if I’m not on holiday that time, I’ll definitely do it for him.”
Two weeks ago, Humphries and Rob Cross hit nine-darters on the same evening in Brighton and they will both receive a £30,000 set of 18ct gold darts, designed by sponsors BetMGM.
It is understood this will be in their possession next week in Newcastle on Night Eight of the Premier League.
The disappointment was that Humphries hit a perfect leg while losing 6-4 to Cross in the quarter-finals on the south coast.
PALuke Humphries embraces Luke Littler during night six of the Darts Premier League[/caption]
The 2024 world darts champion said: “I don’t know what they look like. A lot of the players actually didn’t know anything about it.
“I have checked. I think the price of gold is like £75 a gram. It’s worth 30 grand – so, that’s like 400 grams! They might be too heavy to throw.
“It would be lovely to hit a nine-darter in the final at the O2 Arena. Maybe I should save them for the date in London.
“It just seems to be a bad record every time I hit a nine darter on stage – because I’ve lost every game!”
Kind-hearted Humphries has arranged VIP backstage passes to the Prem night in Manchester on Thursday April 10 for an autistic teenager, 14, who has been badly bullied at school.
Humphries, who has two children, explained why he got involved, saying: “His standard of bullying seemed quite excessive.
“That could really get someone down. There’s some horrible stories over the years of people being bullied and they end up killing themselves.
“I don’t want him to think that all people in the world are negative because he will think that. I want to give him a little bit of hope.
“Maybe this will give him a smile on his face again because he’s not going to school at the moment, his mum and dad have taken him out. He’s feeling pretty glum.
“Hopefully, he’s going to have a great day. I’ve asked his dad, who’s his favourite player is, and I think Luke Littler is his inspiration.
“So I’m going to try and get a signed shirt off Luke. Then he’s going to meet all the players and PDC have kindly given him some tickets as well.
“Hopefully some of the bullies are darts fans and they can see him and see how much of a great time he’s having – because money can’t buy this type of thing.”
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