Beenie Man Apologises To Trinis For ‘Doubles’ Diss
Dancehall star Beenie Man is hoping that Trinidadians will ‘simma down’ as he has apologised sincerely for his recent comments about ‘doubles’, the iconic Trinidadian street food favourite.
“I am apologising to everybody who eat doubles. I am apologizing to everyone who eats doubles, everyone who cook doubles, and who mek doubles, I apologise sincerely,” Beenie was reported as saying earlier this week.
Doubles is essentially a delicious sloppy sandwich made with two pillowy soft baras—flat fried breads—filled with channa, also known as curried chickpeas.
“Doubles sell pon the roadside, is a corner ting, just like we sell jerk chicken on the corner, dem have doubles, is a corner ting. So is not like mi ah disrespect people weh sell doubles on the roadside, am just sorry that people got offended by how I expressed myself. I am really sorry,” Beenie Man said.
The Girls Dem Sugar artist, whose real name is Moses Davis, made the comment while on the Drink Champs podcast with hosts N.O.R.E. (Victor James Santiago Jr) and DJ EFN (Eric Fernando Narciandi), which premiered last Saturday. Beenie Man had revealed that Trinidad was his favourite country besides Jamaica.
“I love Trinidad, but I don’t eat doubles, because dogs don’t eat doubles and I don’t eat anything that dogs don’t eat. I don’t eat doubles,” he said at the time.
“It (doubles) is nice but once I threw it to the dog and the dog didn’t eat it…dogs eat chicken, dogs eat fish, dogs eat dumplings…but the dog won’t eat the doubles.”
Trinidadians have been angered by his statements. leaving several comments online as social media blew up in defense of doubles. Even die hard fans were ticked off. There were calls to ‘cancel’ the dancehall artist, with some vowing to boycott his music and Beenie Man’s next concert in T&T, recalling that they had patronised his last local show in 2022 in Port of Spain.
An apologetic Beenie Man explained his pie en la boca moment came from his dislike of pepper and his own gastronomic leanings.
“As an Ole Dawg myself, mi never like pepper, and the stray dog never like pepper, so mi understand. It wasn’t meant to be a disrespect. So if me offend anyone who eat doubles, I apologise,” he reiterated.
The brouhaha over his comments triggered a virulent reaction on social media with even die-hard fans saying that they had “unfollowed” the artist on social media.
Among those apparently taking offence was Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne, who appeared to throw shade at Beenie via a Facebook post. The minister captioned his post with an emoji of the T&T flag and the words “Sim Simma”, quoting the famous hook line from Beenie Man’s Billboard hit.
Beenie Man is booked to perform at several upcoming shows in the United States as he recently got his US work permit.