Trinidad & Tobago: Akon Controversy Continues
The recent scandal involving US hip-hop artist Akon brutally gyrating on a 15-year-old Trinidadian girl at the island's popular Zen nightclub has taken both the mainstream media and
In a bid to stem the already extensive and continuous coverage of the event, the teenager’s family is seeking to legally bar the media from further publishing photos and the girl’s name, as she is a minor. Club Zen has apologized for the incident. But apologies have not appeased some bloggers, who remain outraged about the whole episode.
The Modest Goddess has seen the video and is
“not sure what’s more disturbing – the girl being flung and dragged around the stage, legs twisted into varying positions to facilitate his act until he abandons her crumpled on the floor? Or the cheering of the crowd, the roaring approval of the crowd, the screaming, clapping, appreciative crowd. The same crowd that now stands in judgement of what happened.”
She is also concerned about the fact that
“on the various blogs on which it appears, comments are being left that use the most derogatory of insults. The girl…has been universally labeled a ho. It reminds me of the age old excuses given for rape – she wanted it, she asked for it, she enjoyed it, she was dressed like a ho, hell, she is a ho.”
Disparaging comments were also the reason that Caribbean Public Relations decided to back away from the issue:
“I've deleted the post about the indecent dance between Akon and the 15-year-old girl, which has garnered this site at least 4,840 hits in just one week. Now one would think that I'd be ecstatic over this jump in readership. I'm not.”
In response to the Trinidad Express interview with the girl's father, The Manicou Report voiced his opinion on the behaviour of both parties:
“I don't know what you'd call that barely-there red top, matching heels, low-rider jeans and lower back tattoo, but “innocent” isn't the word that comes to mind. She's wearing a crucifix though, so I guess it's all OK. Secondly, Akon. There's not much I can say for Akon except that I'm more than just a little disgusted. I don't think I have ever seen anything more dehumanizing being passed off as entertainment. To see a big strong man like Akon treat another woman like a hump toy without any regards to her personal safety is appalling to me.”
By contrast, Colonise This! says:
“What is at issue here for me is not what Danah was wearing or the fact that she was underage, nor is it the practice of performers inviting members of the audience up on the stage to “wine” with them. What is at issue is what this affair represents: the consistent and constant erosion of social, moral, intellectual boundaries, that moves people of African ancestry closer and closer to the animal kingdom and makes us less and less recognisable as sentient and thinking beings.”
Afrobella is also disturbed by the racial implications:
“So then this Akon thing happens, and I can’t look away from the comments pages. And I find the same ignorant beliefs being spouted again and again. ‘This is a part of Caribbean culture, get over it.’ ‘That’s how they dance in Trini.’ ‘Those Caribbean girls get down like that.’ And all of the old school disses delivered to dark skinned people that you might expect…Yes, scandalous dancing is celebrated throughout the Caribbean, all you need to do is do a You Tube search for ‘dutty wine’ or ‘dancehall queen’ to find an array of NSFW videos of women getting down on all fours to degrade themselves. But Akon took it to a whole ‘nother level.”
The incident has sparked considerable discussion over what has become a basic tenet of Caribbean culture – wining. Barbadian blogger Eemanee at What crazy looks like agrees that Akon…
“was perhaps a bit over-zealous and dishonest (there being no trip to Africa) but just how does his performance differ from that of many of our Caribbean performers or your average drunken revellers at Crop Over or Carnival; or that of the dancers in the latest passa passa video? If Akon has disrespected us it means we have been disrespecting ourselves for quite a long time.”
But Caymanian Mad Bull saw nothing out of the ordinary in Akon's behaviour, making the point that many of the region's soca stars behave in a similar fashion onstage. Gallimaufry disagrees:
“I’ve been to plenty (well, enough) fetes and soca/reggae shows and I’ve seen revellers at Kadooment and thing, so believe me, I’ve seen raunchy, but that isn’t just raunchy, that is brutal and scary.”
Posting from Trinidad, Dre at Allyuh.com was just as appalled at what he calls “Akon's Party Politics, producing a comprehensive roundup of politicians’ (including the country's Prime Minister) comments on the issue:
“Patrick Manning is now looking into the issue, pointing fingers in Zen’s direction and asking for the nation to forgive Danah:
‘I have taken very careful notice of this matter and the owner of Zen owes it to the public to take responsibility. I will be interfacing with Zen because that kind of thing should never be allowed to happen in this country.
‘The owner (of Club Zen) should not be allowed to have such a kind of scene, (and) the public should forgive Danah.'”
Meanwhile, Trinidad Carnival Diary reports that Club Zen has been shut down indefinitely on the heels of another unsavoury incident involving a music star – but
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog reports that the closure was short-lived, perhaps making Genie X‘s comment about Akon all the more relevant:
“But what of Akon? He was deceitful, egotistical, misogynistic, disrespectful and contemptuous. What price has he paid for his behaviour? What have been the repercussions of acting like an animal? Well, the only one I have seen so far, is that his record label has rallied to protect its ‘investment’, by attempting to hide the evidence of his despicable acts by having it removed from You Tube. Any and every behaviour by black people against black people is okey-dokey with them as long as the music keeps selling. Beyond this one disheartening act, there is the loud and eloquent sound of silence.”
35 comments
I really don’t understand all the hatred thrown at Akon, why does the parents have the blame and why denigrate the Caribbean culture…! HOW ON EARTH IS THAT! the child is 15 years old she has nuff sense specially becuase of her father being a religious man..!PEOPLE THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT GOES ON IN NIGHT CLUBS…!DEAL WITH IT…!people of all race and culture goes to these places and they all behave the same way, in fact do you really think that any of them remembers Morality, THAT IS NOT CHURCH…! Many young people nowadays does many things that their parents do not know of and this child looks like she has being doing this far a good wile, tell me what jury is going to condemn Akon after seeing these photos..? and as for him, all the heat that he is receiving right now he deserves, i like his music but i hope with this he learns that being an artist does not mean that he has a legal license to behave out of control and without reasoning have it been a woman of legal age or not makes no difference.
Nobody wants to pay money to go see something that does not reflect any artistic talent….IT’S TIME ALL OF THESE SO CALL ARTIST LIVE UP TO THEIR NAMES…….!
I think that everybody should mind their own business and leave the blasted girl alone. so what she went a party and yea she over enjoyed herself but people getting on like they never do nutting wrong just because what she did came out in the light that dont mean that what we do is any less wrong i mean to say come on i have seen younger girls get on worse than that but oh because it was with a popular artist.
MIND ALL YUH OWN BUSINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well listen i agree .. if you are 18 and over you expect more than just a dance or two at a club with a famous person attending it ..You should blame the 14 year old who decided she wanted to be older then what she was.. When i waas 14 i was in bed the time the clubs opened… there were no tattoos . or dressing like a straight ho,… I would have had my ass handed to me .. Im not saying it right that akon does sexualy excplicit things on stage with girls but sex sells and hes a millionare … Her father should have known where she was especially if hes a man of god.. Wow … its so funny how parents blame everyone else for there own stupidity … parents kids all over are doing what this girl did time to pay more attention….
well why is every 1 blaming ako when hes not to blame the way i see it is that girl shouldnt of been in the club the first place as she only 14 teen and every had to be 21 or over so basicly who the 1 to blame …….. tthe girl for lien about her age in the first place …… so lets all forgive akon and get on with it as he brough a great song out and he have said sorry enough xxxmwahxxx p.s akon is mint looking a nd a mint singer LOL>>
I think Akon should be called out on what he did. he should be criticized. He was wrong and he objectified the girl. But she was too young to be there even though the whole incident would have been better off not happening. I do not know the girl to judge her personality. I am not trying to. But that night she was acting grown. She did not deserve what she got but it would have behooved her to use better judgment just like Akon! Both should take this as a learning lesson.
I would like to say that black women in particular and women in general do get objectified too much though.Which is why I am not one to assume that every women that gets beaten, raped, objectified deserved it or had it coming although I do not believe all women that report rape are always innocent no more than the perpetrators . With that said, I do not agree with the comment that women ask for rape by dressing provocatively. That is like saying a man’s car should have gotten jacked because he left the car door unlocked in the parking lot .
i think akon is an animal, wat r u women dissing the chick thinkin,i think u should be ashamed of ur self . i hope u fall into d same situation.did u even watch d movie. i just shows how u women r regarded. r u people sick.even not that am now a born agsin christian i wud av dealt with d animal myself .shame on everybody that thinks it s d girls fault,there wasnt even time to scream he was like a demon.am an african and am ashamed of akon.he is an idiot who disregards women.i hope d same happens to his daughters.