Ifrica a Grand blight on Gala

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Just when we thought that the Grand Gala had got to a point where the performances were lifted to a higher level, here comes Queen Ifrica to continue the trend started by her babyfather, Tony Rebel, who did the same thing last year at the Grand Gala by his homophobic utterances.

She brought the event to a national disgrace. The performances for the night were going very well. It was a delight to see many of the past Festival singers and persons like Tiger and General Threes.

When Queen Ifrica came on stage, I thought that the trend of conscious singing in front of our dignitaries and visiting friends would have continued, only to hear her taking the event into a quagmire of national disgrace.

Her utterances - "Weh the man dem weh love woman", "woman and man we say", "No gays round here", "man to woman me say" and "weh the straight people them deh" - was unacceptable to say the least. If this is not the highest level of bigotry displayed at a national event being paid for by taxpayer dollars, then nothing else is.

Her display of ignorance and homophobia speaks volumes for someone who wanted to be an ambassador for UNICEF. I say to her, your performance was a disgrace to the 51 years of Independence we attempted to celebrate, and it also speaks volumes of how your mind is still not free from mental slavery.

I want to say to the Government and organisers of the Grand Gala and other national events that hard-working taxpayers have to fund that it is high time they put caveats in the contracts of those persons who are coming to perform at these events. They cannot peddle their biases at these public events and they must keep them in their 'judgement yard' where they belong.

It's utterances like these that help fuel the killing of persons like Dwayne Jones, the 17-year-old cross-dresser. If the promoters can do it, why is it that the Government cannot?

The utterances of Tony Rebel and Queen Ifrica, a perfect match, don't belong at any national event.

RALSTON CHAMBERLAIN

ralston.chamberlain@mail.utoronto.ca

Toronto, Canada

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