The Jamaica Star :: News :: BEENIE WON'T BE SUED - Organisers of jerk festival deny rumours

Beenie's new passport - contributed

Organisers of the annual Portland Jerk Festival are strongly dispelling rumours that they plan to take legal action against deejay Moses 'Beenie Man' Davis whose absence at the event last Sunday resulted in irate fans hurling bottles and missiles on to the stage, marring the show's incident-free image.

No ounce of truth

Chairman of the Portland Jerk Festival Committee, Sybil Rendle, yesterday told THE STAR that there was not an ounce of truth to the allegations that they will be suing the entertainer. "I don't know where people got the rumour from because there is absolutely no truth in that," Rendle said. "We sent a letter to his management team stating that it was an unfortunate incident that has spoiled our incident-free image. we read his apology and it came across to us as sincere. That's it."

The chairman also said that in the letter sent to the deejay's management on Wednesday night, they requested that the initial payment to Beenie Man be returned to them, given that he had not turned up for the event. There are yet to receive a response.

In relation to talk that Beenie Man is planning a free concert for Portland fans who were disappointed by his no-show, Rendle said that she has only heard about the 'plans' on radio, but nothing has yet been confirmed in black and white.

Damage control

Last night representatives from Beenie's camp also attempted to do some damage control. A photograph of the deejay's new passport, issued on July 9, was sent to THE STAR. "We got back the new passport with the new visa, and it has the copy of the emergency passport...," the representative said.

The eighth annual staging of the Portland Jerk Festival, held last Sunday, was flawed by a bottle-throwing incident, shortly before midnight, after it was announced that Beenie Man would not be on the show.

The entertainer's publicist, Ray Alexander, told THE STAR that Beenie missed the show because he had lost his passport while overseas and only found out after he turned up to the airport for his 8:00 a.m. flight back to Jamaica, on the day of the show. He said attempts to have emergency documents issued to him, so he could get here to perform, were also unsuccessful.

No one was hurt during the incident.