Shaggy’s Wife Rebecca Packer Disillusioned, Ready To Leave Jamaica After Shaggy & Friends’ $100m Saga
Rebecca Packer, the wife of international Dancehall megastar Shaggy, says she is ready to pack up and leave Jamaica, following the publication of a Gleaner news article which she says misrepresented her responses on the interest relating to a $100 million raised by the Shaggy Make a Difference Foundation (SMADF) for the Bustamante Hospital for Children.
This morning, the Jamaica Gleaner reported that the Kenny Benjamin-led board of the Government-owned Bustamante Children’s hospital, had failed, after two years to get their act together, in order for the SDAF to purchase intensive care beds for which the $100 million was designated.
Among other things, the article titled Shaggy & Friends’ $100m still languishing in account and subtitled Bustamante Hospital yet to get ducks in a row to receive funds, quoted the hospital’s chairman as saying “the last financial statement he saw a year ago showed that interest of approximately $12 million has been earned on the $100 million being held at a local commercial bank.
“He said his understanding, based on discussion with the Shaggy Foundation, is that the interest will be turned over to the hospital.”
However, according to the Gleaner, Packer said the interest belongs to the foundation. Packer has denied making that statement.
She took to Twitter to vent what she said was her disgust at the Gleaner in several tweets this morning, then later on, she deleted her account.
“Excuse me @jamaicagleaner. I categorically stated that all $$ interest included belonged to the hospital, nothing goes to the charity! How are you quoting me saying the interest belongs to the foundation? Please retract that as that was not what I said,” she wrote in one tweet.
“This is precisely why I didn’t want to speak to you all. Always mix up an blend up. I am beyond words. How could you end the article with such a lie,” she wrote in upper case letters under the Gleaner’s link to the article on Twitter.
Seemingly still smarting over a previous article published in November 2019 in the Gleaner, which insinuated misappropriation of funds by the foundation and brought Shaggy’s name into disrepute, Packer revealed that she had opted to stay in Jamaica and raise her family, out of love for the country, even against the wishes of her globe-trotting husband who had wanted her to move to the United States, so that they could be “closer.”
“My husband and I have been together for 20+ years. All that time he has tried to have me move to the States so we could be closer. I always maintained my love for Jamaica and convinced him to have this island as our home. I am no longer of that view,” she stated.
The Gleaner subsequently posted 45-second audio clip taken from the interview its reporter conducted with Packer and captioned it: “LISTEN: @rebeccapacker of the Shaggy Make a Difference Foundation told The Gleaner’s Livern Barrett on Friday that the interest from the $100 million raised in 2018 for the Bustamante Hospital for Children will go towards the foundation. This morning she denied saying she did.”
The audio clip had the following exchange:
Packer: “We converted to US because the dollar started to fall. We didn’t want to lose the value… I can’t tell you what the amount is exactly. But it will accrue a minimum – it’s in a savings account, an investment account. It doesn’t accrue a lot of interest but the principle will never be touched. The principal cannot be harmed in any way.”
Gleaner reporter: “The interest belongs to the foundation?”
Packer: “Everything. Everything goes to the foundation. And it has always been that way.”
It would appear based on the audio, though, that there was a slip of the tongue, as well as an unclear line of questioning, resulting in both Rebecca and the reporter misunderstanding each other.
In early March 2020, Shaggy had fired lyrical shots at the Gleaner in his verse in the remix of Kemar Highcon’s So Saucy hit song, which also featured Dancehall Diva Spice, following the publication of the November article titled Busta’ still waiting – Hospital yet to benefit from $100m raised at 2018 Shaggy and Friends charity concert .
The Operation Desert Storm war veteran had taken no prisoners, lyrically goring the editorial team at the 186-year-old newspaper, and for the first time ever, the multiple-Grammy award winner, referred to his wealth in a song.
“Mi seh mi money up but wait dem have doubt / Seh di money deh-deh, inna di same account / Same amount, is like dem can’t count / Das why mi nuh ramp fi silence dem mouth / Yuh nuh see di people dem nuh in a weh them in a /Can’t believe weh them write in a the Gleaner / Them affi gain back we trust in a the media,” Shaggy sang as he ripped a copy of the Gleaner newspaper into two and threw it away.
When the first article was published, it received widespread condemnation from many members of the Dancehall fraternity, fans of Shaggy, and scores of the newspaper’s readers, who felt The Gleaner house had treated the artist unfairly and was being malicious.
A week later, Shaggy, who was overseas preparing for upcoming musical engagements had to fly to Jamaica, where he held a press conference at the Bustamante Children’s Hospital in a bid to clear his name.
The Oh Carolina artist had said that the questions surrounding funds raised by the Shaggy Make a Difference Foundation had left him feeling heartbroken.
The 51-year-old, whose given name is Orville Burrell, had said the imbroglio had not only left him feeling disenchanted, but had plunged him into anguish after his nine-year-old daughter came to him and said she knew he was going to the meeting at the hospital, “to tell them that you didn’t steal the money”.
At the time, the It Wasn’t Me singer had explained to the media that the funds raised from the charity concert were held in reserve for the equipping of the intensive care unit of the Bustamante hospital with additional intensive care beds.
Shaggy, along with the chairman of the hospital’s board, had also explained that despite the handing over of a symbolic J$100 million cheque following the fundraising concert, his foundation was awaiting the expansion of the ICU space at the hospital to facilitate the additional beds.