By TEINO EVANS, Staff Reporter
file - Assassin
DANCEHALL DEEJAY ASSASSIN, was recently denied access to the BB Kings venue in New York where he had been invited to perform at a Hurricane Katrina benefit show.
The event had featured United States acts such as Dead Prez, Memphis Bleek, David Banner, Talib Kewli, Remy Martin and Q-Tip.
The deejay, who was said to be very disappointed, had stayed in the United States an extra day just to perform on the show.
DISGUST
While Assassin could not be reached for comment, his manager and also publicist expressed their disgust at the situation. "I think that it was just a situation where they didn't get the passes before they went there (to the venue), but I think that the people at VP (Records) should have gotten the passes to him before hand. He stayed back an extra night to do the function and was looking forward to doing his part, but he had no control over what happened," said manager, Donovan Germain.
Assassin's publicist, Chris Schlarb of VP Records was also quite upset about the whole scenario, and outlined his dissatisfaction in a release sent after Monday night's unfolding.
"I am just getting back from the event where Assassin was supposed to be performing with hip-hop artists to help raise money and awareness for hurricane relief. M-1 from Dead Prez asked me if Assassin would perform at the event, and asked us to attend, we said yes and made the necessary arrangements. The artiste (Assassin) shows up along with the rest of us exactly when we were supposed to, 11:00 p.m. for an 11:30 show time. The PR woman in charge of the door would not let the artiste in the door and insisted that M-1 show up to let him in. After other label reps and other people involved with the event confirmed that the artiste was to perform, she still would not let us enter... I can't express how upset I am at this situation, because of one woman, drunk with power, and unable to think independently for herself and make a common sense decision," Schlarb recalled.
APOLOGIES
The release also further stated that Rena Siwek from BB Kings denied knowledge of the woman involved in the scenario.
"She certainly doesn't work for BB Kings and is no way affiliated with any of us here. My only thought is that she is part of the JSharpe Agency which was hired to do press for the event," Miss Siwek stated while apologising for the incident.
Based on the release there was a further twist as Jennifer A Williams from the JSharpe Agency also offered her apologies for the incident but she too pointed out that the woman in question was not an employee of JSharpe Agency.
"She is a volunteer for MXGM and not an employee of JSharpe Agency. We only handled press. Guest lists and artist hospitality were co-ordinated by the Brooklyn Coalition and MXGM," she said.
Since the incident Assassin returned to the island and on Tuesday hosted a call-in at THE STAR's North Street office.
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