A St Lucian senior government minister has expressed concerns about a person who appeared on a stage armed with a gun during a concert featuring international dancehall artist Skillibeng over the weekend.
The “Whap Whap” artiste was performing at the Onyx concert in the country.
Minister of Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture and Information Dr Ernst Hilaire told reporters that “We need to ask some serious questions. As far as I knew, the police took a position that they were not approving the show because the individual in question is someone who has been involved in singing and promoting music that glorifies crime and gun violence”.
He also stated that the police viewed the event as a threat due to the lack of security and was very clear that the event would not be approved on the grounds of “national and events security”.
Organizers have since apologised for the “bad optics” via a statement, which reads in part, “…we do recognize that the on-stage optics may have given the wider public a false impression of the event and what we stand for. As such, we wish to apologize for causing any offence to the public. This was by no means intentional”
Just recently, Guyana’s leader of the opposition party Aubrey Norton referred to Spice and Skillibeng as the “worst of the Dancehall music after their performance at the Guyana Cricket Carnival, referring to their music as “immoral”.
