Rum Festival Headliner Capleton Says He Is “Not Endorsing Or Promoting Alcohol”
Rastafarian Reggae/Dancehall superstar Capleton is making it clear that despite being scheduled to headline the Jamaica Rum Festival’s concert, on June 25, he is not endorsing the consumption of alcohol.
In a post he shared of the event, which is scheduled for the Aqueducts in Montego Bay, Capleton also made a disclaimer, amidst questions being raised by some Jamaicans about his presence at the festival yet again.
“Capleton is NOT endorsing and NOT promoting any alcohol. This is a performance only,” the More Fire artist noted.
His disclaimer came a few weeks after university lecturer Mel Cooke, in an opinion piece on the Jamaica Monitor website, noted that Capleton being slated as one of the headliners for Rum Festival “does not seem to have turned a hair (or a dreadlock)”.
“There was a time when the combination of Rastafari and rum would have at least raised eyebrows, if not tempers. …Maybe it did the first time around when the second Jamaica Rum Festival was held at Hope Gardens in St Andrew, which I missed, as Capleton also performed at the 2020 staging. So did Protoje and Cocoa Tea, while Sizzla was a part of the virtual staging in 2021, when COVID-19 moved entertainment matters online,” he noted.
“Now that that they are back to the real normal, rum and Rasta will once again be in the same physical space. Yeah, sip and Selassie! (Just in case, that does not mean that I am saying Rastafari will be drinking rum at the festival. I am talking about an incongruous confluence.),” he had added.
Rastafarians follow strict dietary laws and abstain from alcohol, and Capleton, who is a rawist vegan, adheres to that doctrine, and even carries his own personal chef on tours with him and does not eat refrigerated food.
A few days ago, Capleton told The Gleaner that the world already knows what he represents “when it comes to the music and to the culture”, and so perform at the rum festival will do no harm to his brand.
“I’m doing an alcohol (sponsored) event – that cannot affect my brand in no shape or any form. You know the message is most important, so it’s all about the message. It’s all about the fire. You know what I mean? Rastafari to the fullest,” he had said.
In January 2020, Capleton also headlined the Jamaica Rum Festival, alongside a several other Rastas, including Freddie McGregor, Cocoa Tea, Kymani Marley and Spragga Benz.
Back then Capleton had pointed out that he was aware that some persons are questioning his presence on the show, but declared that while he did not drink alcohol, rum is an integral part of the Jamaican culture, which cannot be ignored.
“I don’t drink rum but, yuh know, rum is a part of our culture. Plenty people who don’t drink rum always have a bottle in dem house. When people sick, dem rub up inna some white rum and it works for them,” the Raggy Road artiste said.
“Remember that the ancients used to call rum ‘fire water’…,” he added.
In Cooke’s article, titled Rasta at a Rum Festival, he also compared the new developments with the recent past, noting that things were not always this way, as “in one striking instance, sometime in the 1990s Luciano was very upset when he saw a rum banner on stage while performing at a staging of the Trelawny Yam Festival.
“I can’t remember any more public rejection by Rastafari of alcoholic beverages on stage at an entertainment event, but I do remember being surprised (although I did not show it) when the press launch of a staging of the now defunct East Fest, hosted by the Morgan family at the former Goodyear facility in Morant Bay, was held at a certain liquor company headquarters on Spanish Town Road,” he added.
In his discourse, he also pointed out that Rastas performing at events sponsored by liquor companies are not new as Rastafari singers and deejays have performed at many, both large scale and small, among them Reggae Sumfest which was sponsored for many years by Red Stripe.