Last week, a video of hip-hop [1] rapper Akon [2] apparently hitting a female fan in a crowd-surfing frenzy during a Carifesta [3] concert in Guyana [4] caused an uproar in the Guyanese blogosphere [5].
Akon's publicity company [6] has since released footage of the incident taken from a different angle, which they believe proves his innocence. (Akon appears to be hugging the woman at the end of the scuffle).
Here is the extended video of the incident:
The Guyanese concert promoters also issued a statement to several bloggers:
We are shocked to hear that there is a video clip circulating that suggests Akon treated a fan badly during his August 30th performance in Guyana. There were no incident reports stemming from the event. Despite a late start, the concert was a tremendous success and we hope that Akon will come back soon.
But Living Guyana [7], one of the recipients of the statement, stuck to his guns:
Yep, of course, there were no reports of an incident even though thousands saw Akon smack those two women. And because he pulled them up afterwards, that he smashed them in the face should be cool. That's Akon's modus operandi, he smacks people then apologises afterwards.
You've seen the video; judge for yourself.