Buju Banton has challenged Prime Minister Andrew Holness over comments accusing some entertainers of benefiting from Jamaica\u2019s image overseas while disparaging the country, according to a report published by Malawi24 on Friday.<\/p>\n
The reggae and dancehall artist responded on social media, arguing that performers\u2019 international audiences reflect their work and credibility. He also maintained that Jamaican artists had been promoting the country long before Holness entered politics.<\/p>\n
According to the report, Holness made his remarks on Wednesday at the reopening of Black River Hospital. The prime minister accused some people who profit from Brand Jamaica of using the national flag to draw audiences abroad while damaging the country\u2019s reputation through their criticism.<\/p>\n
The comments followed criticism from veteran entertainer Beenie Man about the government\u2019s handling of hurricane relief donations. Malawi24 reported that, in an ITV News interview, Beenie Man questioned the distribution of disaster relief funds and expressed concern that coastal development could threaten Jamaicans whose livelihoods depend on beaches.<\/p>\n
Buju\u2019s response focused on the contribution of entertainers to Jamaica\u2019s international identity. He rejected the suggestion that waving the flag was what brought people to their shows, instead pointing to the sustained effort and body of work behind their careers.<\/p>\n
The report, which identified the Jamaican Observer as its source, presented the exchange as a dispute over criticism of the government and artists\u2019 role in representing Jamaica abroad. It did not establish the underlying allegations about relief distribution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Buju Banton challenges Holness over entertainers\u2019 role in Brand Jamaica<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jamaica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}