Problem with sorting civievent_widget custom_filter by startdate DESC and for past dates

Question

I am trying to sort by start_date descending but it doesn't seem to be working.

What change would I make to the below to get it to work? I am using CiviCRM 4.6

[civievent_widget title="Sorted Events" admin_type="custom" custom_filter=custom_filter='{"is_public": 1, "options": {"sort": "start_date DESC"}}']

Also I am trying to display only past events by date (ideal would be before "today") but this doesn't work either. Do I have a format incorrect or is this not possible to do?

[civievent_widget title="Past Events" admin_type="custom" custom_filter='{"start_date": {">=": "2018-06-01"}, "is_public": 1, "options": {"sort": "start_date ASC"}}']

Answer 1

I figured out why the second one wasn't working -- CiviEvent widget only shows UPCOMING events.

I still am not able to figure out why I cannot see the events in DESCENDING order.