Reggae DJ Says ‘Peaky Blinders’ Actor Will Not Get Bob Marley’s Accent Right In Biopic

Veteran British music selector and broadcaster Daddy Ernie has joined Jamaican nationals in voicing consternation about British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir being hand-picked to play Bob Marley in an upcoming Paramount Pictures biopic.

Two weeks ago, when Ben-Adir was announced as the choice for playing Marley, Jamaicans had contended, among other things, that Bob would not want a “fake Rasta” wearing a wig or extensions representing him.  Now Daddy Ernie, who was born in London to Jamaican parents, says he too is discomfited, as according to him, there will be a failure to get Bob Marley’s accent right.

“They definitely ain’t going to get that accent right, we know that, because they never get the Jamaican accent right, whether it is Marley, Peter Tosh or Daddy Ernie,” he told The Voice in an interview following the announcement.

Ben-Adir, who is the son of an English father and a Trinidadian mother, has previously played Colonel Ben Younger in the British period drama Peaky Blinders; Malcolm X in One Night in Miami and starred as President Barack Obama on Showtime’s The Comedy Rule.  The actor has told media in the past that he, his mother, and brother had converted to Judaism, taking on the name “Ben-Adir” which, in Hebrew, means “son of the strong or mighty”.

Ernie told The Voice that although he could not readily pinpoint a Jamaican actor who suited the job, he was confident that the island has the requisite talent within its borders or among its Diaspora.

“I definitely would have liked to see a Jamaican actor given the part, but I would be struggling to think of a Jamaican actor to play Marley really,” Ernie, who was the main host for Jamaica’s 50th-anniversary celebrations in London, had stated.

“I don’t know of the top of my head a Jamaican actor who could play that part, but there is so much talent in Jamaica I’m sure they could have found someone or someone in the UK or America of Jamaican heritage,” Ernie added.

Daddy Ernie also told The Voice, that in spite of everything he welcomes the film, but said he would also like to see more of Reggae’s pioneers have their stories adapted into films and theatre productions, among them Toots Hibbert of Toots and the Maytals, Bunny Wailer, Gregory Isaacs, Peter Tosh and Alton Ellis.

Daddy Ernie has been involved in the sound system business since his teenage years.   He was influenced by his father who was a renowned sound system operator.  In his teens, he teamed up with his brother and some of his close friends to establish his own sound system President Downbeat.

Ernie was an ardent follower of the King Trojan sound system, which was associated with the all-powerful Trojan Record company, the leading reggae label in the UK at the time, and his interest in new releases from Jamaica grew there.

He was involved with the UK’s first Black music station, LWR and had a brief stint with Time FM before become a major force with the first five-day-a-week Reggae programme outside of Jamaica on the Super Jam show on Choice FM in the early 1990s.

In lodging their complaints on social media following Paramount’s announcement, many Jamaicans had also said that and that there are a plethora of competent Jamaican actors, who could play the Legend and that one of his many sons or grandsons, ought to have been selected, including his son Ky-Mani Marley who had said last November, that playing the role of Bob was his dream.

Like Ernie, they had also complained that as a foreigner, no matter how hard he tries, Ben-Adir will not be able to effectively portray the nuances and mannerisms of Jamaicans, nor master the Patois language, and would sound ridiculous, as has been the case with the long list of acclaimed foreign actors who attempted to play roles as Jamaicans.