On Saturday the 17th day of June, 2013, Slingerz Family Entertainment staged their Slingerz Caribbean Summer Jam at the Guyana National Stadium. The two featured artistes were supposed to have been Tommy Lee and Mavado of Jamaica.
These local artistes, who included Alabama, Malcolm Ferreira, Kwesi Ace and Jory, charmed the crowd and represented fully the budding and exciting crop of local artistes now appearing on the national stage.
Tommy Lee also performed and enthralled and enchanted his fans for just over an hour with a thrilling and powerful performance.
Unfortunately, Movado did not perform at the said event as advertised and for this Slingerz Family extends its profound apologies to the Guyanese public.
However, notwithstanding the false and malicious statements made by and attributed to Movado regarding the events that led to his non-performance, Slingerz Family wishes to bring to the public’s attention the true facts.
The agreement to have Movado perform at the show was entered into since on or around the 26th day of June, 2013.
At the time it was agreed that fourteen (14) persons would make up Movado’s entourage. The initial deposit, being 50% of the agreed sum, was paid to the Artiste.
The travel itinerary agreed upon between the parties was communicated to the artiste and accepted. The artiste was supposed to have begun travelling on the 15th day of August, 2013, with a view to arriving in Guyana on the 16th day of August, 2013 by way of Caribbean airlines. All the necessary bookings were made and paid for by the Slingerz family Entertainment Group.
The travel arrangements made included funds sent to the artiste management team to facilitate travel from his residence in Jamaica to the airport. Whilst it was agreed that Slingerz Family would fund the cost associated with the travel of the artiste and his entourage to the Jamaican airport where they were expected to board the same flight upon which Tommy Lee travelled, it was incumbent on the artiste management team to make the arrangements for their transport to the airport.
Earlier, communications were received from the artiste management team that everyone had checked in online and everything was in place for them to travel.
However, upon checking with the airline to determine whether the artiste and his entourage had arrived at the airport and checked in to travel, Slingerz Family learnt that they had not.
Contact was then made with the artiste manager who indicated that the bus they had enlisted to transport them to the airport arrived late and as such they missed the flight. He indicated that “god aint coming and if yall want god fuh come u have to send a private jet for he” After expressing the view that this was likely to put the Slingerz Family Entertainment group in an embarrassing position as they had established a reputation of always delivering on their promise to bring artiste to these shores, Slingerz Family promise to do all within their power to ensure the artiste arrived in Guyana.
The chartering of a private jet at that ninth hour appeared prohibitive in terms of accessibility and cost, however, in an effort not to disappoint its Guyanese fan base, Slingerz Family sought to make every possible effort to ensure the artiste arrived, which would be at an additional cost to Slingerz Family, through no fault of theirs.
After great endeavours, Slingerz Family enlisted the help of a private local aircraft to travel to Jamaica to transport the artiste and his team. The specifications of the aircraft and the flight schedule were communicated to and accepted by the artiste and his management team.
The flight departed Guyana and arrived in Jamaica, where, Slingerz Family learnt, the artiste made several objections to the type of aircraft, having already been apprised of the specifications of the aircraft before it travelled. Slingerz Family were also informed by the flight officials that when the flight stopped in Curacao for refueling, as was discussed and agreed upon between the parties, the artiste began to behave in an untoward manner complaining bitterly about various matters whilst proclaiming that he is “the god’ and demanded that he be taken back to Jamaica. This caused the flight to be delayed in Curacao for three hours before the artiste was persuaded to rejoin and to continue the journey.
This delay caused the flight to enter the Guyana airspace after 18:00 hours on the 17th day of August, 2013. Slingerz Family Entertainment received communications from officials at the Ogle International airport that because of international regulations the plane would not be permitted to land and as such the plane was redirected to Trinidad. This caused a further delay.as endeavors were made to get clearance from the relevant local authority for the plane to land.
After acquiring permission through the intervention of the good offices of the relevant officials, the plane landed at Ogle International at approximately 23:45 hours. After clearing immigration, a process that took some time due to the lateness of the hour and the fact that the flight was unscheduled, Mavado and his entourage were met by officials from the Slingerz Family and transported to the Princess hotel, arriving there at approximately 01:20 hours. There Movado occupied the Presidential suite as per request and his entourage other rooms.
At the hotel, after refreshing themselves, the artiste management was asked to have his band attend the stadium to tune their instruments. It had been explained to Movado that he would appear on stage before Tommy Lee as, based on past experience, Slingerz Family Promotions had concerns about the restlessness of the crowd when Tommy Lee, who has developed a wide and impressionable fan base, appeared.
At that point, Mavado and his entourage objected vehemently stating that he was the “superstar” and insisted that he headlined the show.
All this time, Slingerz Family Entertainment was hard-pressed since they had been given a stipulated time by the police authority regarding when the show should conclude. At their request, the Guyana Police Force was even kind enough to extend the time a bit longer.
Nevertheless, word was sent to the Tommy Lee camp asking whether they would facilitate the promoters by appearing first and they readily agreed. Tommy Lee took the stage a little after 2am.
Movado then expressed his reluctance to perform nevertheless stating that he felt Slingerz Family Entertainment disrespected him by seemingly promoting Tommy Lee and Gaza over him.
At the conclusion of Tommy Lee’s performance and whilst still discussing with a Slingerz Family representative whether he would perform, Movado indicated that the present show was Tommy Lee’s show and maybe Slingerz family should hold a show the next day, which would be the Movado show.
A short while after word was received that members of the Guyana Police force had called an end to the show. Slingerz Family Entertainment’s deepest regret in all of this, notwithstanding the substantial financial losses and public image damage involved is that the local fans were cheated of an opportunity to experience all that they were promised. Slingerz family Entertainment vows to ensure that a repeat of this unfortunate situation does not reoccur by enlisting artiste in the future who are cognizant of their responsibility to the public as much as their own financial well-being.
We deny owing Mavado the sums he has alleged in his statements or any sum at all. Slingerz Family Entertainment has honored all financial obligations to the artiste in accordance with the agreement and the artiste’s inability to perform was in no wise due to the fault of Slingerz Family Entertainment. We have experienced considerable difficulty with the particular artiste regarding flight arrangements, being forced to change same on several occasions. We regret the inconvenience caused to our fans.
THANK YOU