Skeng Arrested At Norman Manley Airport After Altercation With Security

The police have confirmed that Dancehall artist Skeng was removed from a flight at the Norman Manley International Airport at about 1:50 p.m this afternoon.

The 21-year-old artist, whose real name is Kevaun Douglas, was charged for disorderly behaviour and resisting arrest. He was offered bail and is to appear before the Kingston and St. Andrew court on June 21, 2022.

“Our information is that this happened after he started behaving disorderly during an argument.The argument developed with a member of the Port Security. So the incident was actually before he boarded the flight,” a representative of the Corporate Communication Unit (CCU) of the JCF, told DancehallMag.

Our affiliate, World Music Views, spoke with Skeng’s lawyer Christopher Townsend about the incident. “It was a simple thing that got outta hand. What happened from the information that I received, the artist had checked all the way to the gate, there was an item that could not go in his luggage on the plane, his hand luggage, he was asked to remove it in compliance with the rules and regulations that govern international flights,” he explained.

Townsend continued, “after that there was a rude comment from the security officer, not the police. Skeng responded to say ‘that was rude, he never needed to do that’.”

Townsend said the matter was an abuse of power on the part of the airport security and that his client was who was abused and ‘felt threatened’.

“Clearly there was an abuse of power, he (Skeng) felt threatened. Here you have security officers in authority and dealing with you in a particular way so he felt threatened, in Jamaica we have a deficit in customer service. The security officer in an attempt to subdue him sprayed him with pepper spray.”

He admitted that his client may have been in an elevated state but it was because of the pepper spray which caused him to panic.

“It escalated, when the police came and saw it appears to be an unruly passenger, when you are pepper sprayed you are gonna panic, he started to panic and lash out a little bit, The police took him to a safe area at the police station and the flight left him.”

Skeng is scheduled to headline the Revival Return OF Dancehall event in Trinidad on May 28. Townsend said he is doing everything in his power to ensure his client is on the next flight for the event.

“We are hoping for him to be on the next flight out, we are putting everything in place to make that happen,” he said.

“I do not anticipate that this will affect him traveling, the offense he is charged with are not finger printable, and are petty sessions, from the conversations with the police they are petty session offenses and don’t carry a jail time.”

Townsend further remarked that “Skeng is an excellent artist, extremely talented, from what I know that is in the pipeline he is going to go very far.”

Skeng is the second most viewed artist in Jamaica on YouTube over the last 12 months, behind Chronic Law, according to the platform’s Music Charts. His single Protocol with Tommy Lee Sparta, which Nicki Minaj has hailed as the “baddest” song in years, has neared 25 million views on the platform.

Heaven Passport with Intence has locked in 12 million views, Gvnman Shift has 24 million, and Street Cred (another Nicki favorite) has 11 million views on YouTube.  Skeng other recent tracks are London and Taibhan, his collab with Stalk Ashley.