Luke Humphries has said he expects the recent heated exchange between Luke Littler and Gian van Veen will soon be forgotten, telling ESPN it's "hot news now, it'll be gone next week."
Littler and Van Veen faced off in a repeat of January's World Championship final in Night 9 of the Premier League in Manchester last Thursday and got were involved a brief onstage disagreement after the world No. 1 appeared to celebrate Van Veen missing a match dart.
After Van Veen made a disapproving face at Littler's reaction to his miss, the world champion gestured at his opponent to return to the oche, but then missed the chance to seal the match himself.
The Dutchman eventually prevailed 6-5 in their quarterfinal meeting, but not before Littler produced a 'cry baby' gesture.
Littler, 19, later shared an image of Van Veen's comments on his Instagram Stories, adding three laughing emojis below. Van Veen, 23, later said his next meeting with Littler may not be "very friendly" following their tense exchange.
Asked about the incident, Humphries told ESPN: "It happens every now and then in darts, to be honest. I just think it's just one of them things and it can get caught up in the emotion and it's a cauldron, darts. Sometimes you get caught up in the emotion, you do things that you think, 's---, I wish I wouldn't have done that.' And you can't go back -- it's done.
"Darts is a very game full of pressure all the time. And sometimes you just accidentally explode and things can annoy you. I don't think Luke or Gian or any of them are right or wrong. I just think that these sort of things happen and, yeah, just enjoy the spat for what it is and it's a bit of drama, a bit of 'it is what it is.'
"Everyone seems to have written about it a lot this last five or six days, but they'll be forgotten in two weeks. So it's one of them scenarios and it is hot news now, it'll be gone next week."
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Humphries bullish on form amid Premier League struggles
Humphries joins Littler, Van Veen and five more of the PDC's biggest stars on Thursday as the Premier League roadshow stops off in Brighton for Night 10.
Currently sitting sixth in the table, defending Premier League champion Humphries faces a battle to qualify for May's Finals Night.
Still searching for his first nightly win of the campaign, Humphries' form has raised eyebrows.
"You can't keep proving yourself to people," Humphries, speaking to ESPN in his role as brand ambassador for Red Dragon, said.
"It gets to the point where you you're like, 'I don't have nothing else left to prove. I've won everything almost that there is to win.' I've been at the top of the game for about three years, become a household name, should I say in darts, in such a short space of time.
"So all my achievements back up, but it's going to be tough to replicate. You're not going to keep winning at the level I have, especially with the amount of good players there is nowadays.
"But even with the fact of people still writing you off, I've still made a major final this year, won a European tour, Players Championship. I mean, no one else except for Luke Littler has done that this year that's made a major final and backed up with a European tour win and a Players Championship win.
"Yes, the Premier League hasn't been great, but I look back and my performance [level] is still high. And I think I'm averaging this year higher than I've ever done in my whole career, which sounds strange considering that I haven't really got lows of rewards for it. But if I'm playing well and I keep doing that, then the awards will come."
The battle for the top four
With Littler, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton seemingly on course to make it through to the tournament's big night at the O2 Arena in May, only one remaining spot looks to be available for the chasing pack at this stage.
Does Humphries see it that way?
"Yeah, I'd say so right at this moment in time. I think me, Gian and Michael van Gerwen, even Stephen's thereabouts, it's fighting for that fourth spot or third spot where whatever it looks like.
"I think it could all be a lot more closely if I beat Jonny tomorrow night and win the night. And Michael, if he wins his first game, he'd be on 16 points or 15 points, 15 or 16 points, and I'd be on 16 points. And Jonny's only on 19 then, he's already bringing himself into it again.
"With there being another six nights after tonight, anything can happen. If Gezzy [Gerwyn Price] i's on 19, then if he doesn't win his first game, so I wouldn't say that we're playing for one spot just yet. There's still three spots very much available. It just all depends. Sometimes you lose three or four on the bounce, it can get really tough for yourself."
Information from PA contributed to this story.