By CURTIS CAMPBELL—
Dancehall artist Beenie Man who was booked to perform a Best of The Best recently in Miami was denied entry to the United States.
According to the promoter of the event, Jabba, Beenie Man was paid his deposit, however, he called on the day of the event to say he was denied entry to the US.
“I am sorry to the fans, it was beyond our control and Beenie Man’s control. Beenie Man is a favorite on Best of the Best and he had received his deposit. It’s just one of those unfortunate situations,” he said
According to Jabba, managers of local artists should work overtime to ensure that their artists are in possession of visas. He also pointed out that poor management has been plaguing the Caribbean music industry, while American artists are able to commit crimes, serve time and are still able to travel.
Right business
“At the end of the day, if you have a proper manger you will not have inconvenience with visas. You have all these American rappers who have been in jail and get locked up for this and that, but their managers reach out and get proper lawyers and do business. The problem with Caribbean artistes is they get too caught up in doing shows and going around the world and are not taking care of the right business. They need to realise that the visa is like having a work tool for their work, they need to have their visas. They need to pay their taxes and they need to walk a straight line. As you can see, the Government from Jamaica to America are going hard on our culture, so the manager dem need to sort out dem artist business,” he said.
THE STAR understands that Beenie Man missed several shows in the US over the past few weeks, due to his predicament.
“I want to apologize to the fans, it was a situation beyond my control and the promoter’s control,” Beenie Man told Best of The Best via video footage.
When contacted, a representative from Beenie Man’s camp stated that they were unable to comment on the issue.
