Dancehall Entertainers Say Holness’ Election Call Should Be Blamed For COVID Spike

Dancehall artists and their other entertainment colleagues have been having yet another grand time jeering Prime Minister Andrew Holness this after news began circulating of statements he made about the sector on Tuesday, in the Lower House of Parliament.

The first round of ridicule came on Wednesday, after ZJ Sparks shared a series of tweets posted on Holness’ official Twitter page, on her Instagram page.

Among them was a now-deleted tweet, extrapolated from the Prime Minister’s address, during which he said that: “You will recall that our previous attempt to allow entertainment to open up in the summer of 2020 was one of the factors that resulted in our first spike…”.

“To how mi laugh so hard and drap pan di tile til dem crack, all di mango dem pan di tree drap off,” the disc jockey quipped in her caption.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPmbeRUHHPn/

As stars of all ilk flocked to Sparks’ page to participate in the latest joke, many of them accused Holness of being disingenuous and duplicitous, rebuking him for unfairly attributing blame to the entertainment sector, while omitting his own major role in the matter, by calling general elections in the midst of the pandemic.

According to them, the only entertainment event that Holness could be referring to, would certainly be the election campaign period instigated by him and the huge celebrations in the streets following his victory at the polls.

In fact, they argued that after the PM announced the date, what ensued was a sure COVID super-spreader as the result was a carnival-like general election campaign which saw throngs of maskless citizens led by their favourite politicians, hugging, shouting, jumping and gallivanting in the streets, all over the island, as they danced to the slew of Dancehall dubplates which the politicians had commissioned for their “listening pleasure”.

Foota Hype, a longstanding critic of Holness and a declared Peoples National Party supporter stated: “Dah bredda yah really come blame music again u know mi a lose respect fi him now as a person kmt”.

Tanya Stephens, another decrier, also expressed annoyance at the PM’s projection of blame on the sector.

“Attempt fi open entertainment cause spike…? A di election him a talk???? This man…………….,” she wrote.

Host of Irie FM’s Easy Skanking Show, Amber Crowl also rebuked the Prime Minister and tagged him in her comments.

“How dare he mention spike in relation to entertainment when an election was held with @andrewholnessjm supporters flouting Covid protocols all over the island?????” she demanded to know, as did Stacious who wrote: “The limited opening in 2020 fly ova my head 😮 mi think a election cause the spike…… but mi locked inside so my information probably wrong”.

In response, Amber mocked Holness again noting: “@therealstacious mumma u nuh see di man a tell lie.. agen 😂😂😂😂😂”.

The post evoked some other amusing quips, with zaggamusic, like his colleagues, hurling back a boomerang at Holness.

“Mount a dub plate play mi understand why dem call it entertainment but a did only “2 party”,” he mocked.

For Devin di Dakta, he thought the Prime Minister has gone bonkers, and he used a literary device to make his point, even though it flew over some non-Dancehall fans heads.

“‘A Wah dis fada?” And “Hell Fire” 👈🏿 A who sing dem song Deh?” he quipped, citing two songs by Mad Anju.

Comedian Tripple X also came over to share in the festivities subliminally pointing fingers back at Holness.

“Hold on deh…😂😂😂😂 if i laugh i fart…. suh election considered as entertainment now….. well to be honest… dem did play nuff dubplate still,” he too quipped.

Tanya Stephens also re-shared the post on her Instagram page, noting that, Holness’ actions resulted from Jamaica having a useless opposition in the PNP.

“Me not even a go cuss him. A PNP fault. This big bloodclaat power struggle and no viable opposition. A election him a talk?????” she wrote.

Count Tree artist Spragga Benz also concurred with the Rebelution artiste, noting that the PNP was just as bad.

“PNP worthless as well .. di Pot fraid fi cuss the Kettle,” Spragga said, while singer Natel declared that: “Election a di entertainment him did open up fi true.. and den lock it when dem done perform”.

Scores of Stephens’ fans also criticized Holness, among them
cutedimpleswhit who wrote: “So ummmm did I just read right? Did HE NOT CALL ELECTION last year? 😳😑 and tons of motorcades and his OWN constituency was in full celebration. wow just wow and Not even a mention of the election.

For her part, calrya_mamiiii_01 too said the blame for any massive spike in COVID cases last year should be laid squarely at the feet of the JLP leader.

“A which big entertainment him did allow Inna 2020… A muss election bredda G a talk caz a dat a did the biggest pawty mi see keep laas year… Motorcades and all…,” she said.