Minister Grange Boots L.A. Lewis From Royal Event: “LA, This Is Not Your Show”
There have been mixed reactions to an encounter between L.A. Lewis and Jamaican Entertainment Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange, in which she interrupted an interview that reporters were conducting with the entertainer, and instructed a security officer to remove him from what has been described as a reserved area.
The exchange took place yesterday in Trench Town, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were being hosted at a function.
In the video clip of the exchange, which was shared on Irie FM’s Instagram page, LA is seen giving his views on the Royals’ visit while sharing what he said was some historical facts about Trench Town.
“When the prince come, is a wonderful thing, and we give him a warm welcome and give his wife a warm welcome and there is the beautiful Babsy Grange- ,” L.A says before halting in mid-sentence as Grange interjected.
“LA, this not your show… This is not your show. Come come,” she said holding his arm and steering him away. “This is not your show,” she repeated, to which L.A. replied that “a the media just ask mi suppm”.
“Deal wid dat fi mi,” Grange said addressing a security officer, while referring to Lewis, to whom she added: “Just loww di press”.
In reacting to the video, some followers mocked Lewis, who has long said he has ties to the Royal Family and is good buddies with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles.
Many said he deserved the dismissive treatment as he was “too nuff”.
However, others, ranging from Jamaicans to non-nationals, rebuked the Minister for being unnecessarily unkind to Lewis, whose actions did not warrant such a response, as despite her approach, he remained polite.
“Leave the BBC man fi talk he wasn’t interrupting you,” lennardfinegan stated, while masta.bling added: “Babsy was disrespectful. Abuse of power and shows how ignorant our government representatives them are. This man was not doing anything illegal.”
Another commenter, Rasta Kid, said that among other things, the Minister ought to remain humble, and should have allowed Lewis to express himself, as he was doing a good job of telling the history of Trench Town.
“How can you said this is not this show… ain’t he is a human being… and black man; his ancestors was enslaved too. Woman humble yourself. She don’t have any home respect…. LA, big up yourself. have some bloodclaath respect woman…, he stated.
Others said the Minister’s actions amounted to an abuse of power.
“Ur rude and disrespectful babsy grange the world is watching if he was a white man u would not approach him the way u did..,” jeorgefromyard said.
“How the brawd women just cut off di man in middle of him speech is getting more vex each time I watch it. Disgusting,” owentroy said, while afrykabless added: “It’s A Public Gathering He Can Be There As He Please Smh Why Dis Lady So Sensitive Abt Our Oppressors?”
Others said the way LA was treated, was nothing to laugh about, while some argued that while he can be a handful at times, it was wrong to treat him unkindly.
“It funny still because LA Lewis really nuh serve nuh purpose. But me no support the way the bigger heads feel dem can just tell the man fi shut up. Him have the right to speak just like any of us, whether him a chat rubbish or not,” 1pedro876 said.
“But wait it look like dem frighten fi Royalty although the 7 star general can go overboard at times but miss babsy don’t forget seh those who held us back in slavery are those yu and ur team a glorify,” wise_wurdz said.
“This was very disrespectful and she had no right to interrupt his interview despite LA reputation,” sehfeh01 said, while madddboss1 added: “Whether LA or another ghetto yute dats wrong….a La entertain we all the while whole pandemic whe dem do??????” said.
“That’s disrespect at its highest expectually coming from a minister shame on you babsy. Regardless of how l.a is too much of his self all the time for once he was actually saying something meaningful.😢😢😢,” youn_legend said.
Some took to her Instagram page to further upbraid the former Specs/Shang executive.
“That was very rude of our Babsy. He was speaking kind words about YOUR prince. You would never deal with a white man like that,” staytruetoyourselfnow said.
“I lost respect for you after how you deal with a man speaking history,” ratinbgztv
“What you did was so unprofessional, rude and disrespectful for Minister. Let’s see what excuse you will come up with🙄🙄🙄🙄,” jay_frazer_official said, adding later: “A frighten them frighten ova Royals man”.
Another man said that he would ensure that the issue does not die.
“I don’t like your behaviour on TV. You was rude and interrupted the black man when he was speaking which is disrespect and on top off that he was saying positive things about Jamaica. I will be elevating this further,” owentroyrohan said.
L.A. later told The Star that he had turned up at the event because he was “born and bred” in the community, and was deserving of being there to pay his respects, as it was a public event.
“But I was rudely disrespected by Olivia Babsy Grange. Because when the British and European press and media as well as Irie FM and the other press and media came to see me, Babsy Grange literally come out and tell them literally not to interview LA Lewis and fi put mi outta di place becaw I am a Maroon… Suh why Babsy Grange want to embarrass di Maroon Emperor,” L.A. said in his over-the-top response.
“Suh Babsy Grange, mi lose offa yuh. Even when Ali McNab a tell har seh ‘loww him’, shi sen fi di honourable George Phang…,” he said.