Beenie Man Under Fire For Selling Branded Face Masks Amidst COVID-19 Outbreak

Beenie Man has ventured into the making and selling of face masks, a venture which has not gone down well with some of his Instagram followers, while at the same time has piqued the interest of many.

On Thursday evening the Grammy-award winning artiste posted a photo of himself on Instagram, wearing black mask branded King Beenie Man which he captioned: “DM to order your #KingBeenieMan Mask”, which left some tongues wagging.

Some fans queried the cost of the masks and whether he would be able to ship by Fedex or through the regular Government Post Office, while others said he had no business selling masks but should issue them for free as a humanitarian act, as he was already wealthy.

“Beenie Man, with all respect my G, we rate and respect you nuff from Panama, but because of your economical position, you should be donating dose masks to needy people, not selling them.  Remember it’s better to give than receive…,” one fan said.

“You should be giving those to some of your fans,” another man noted.

Another follower, attempted to slight the 46 year old, implicitly noting that his interest did not lie with the Beenie Man brand, but with that of the other Dancehall King Vybz Kartel. He even took the liberty of placing an order.  “Mi need a GAZA one.  You dm when it ready @kingbeenieman,” he quipped.

Beenie Man joins a growing number of micro-business operators who have begun to provide protective face masks in response to the Jamaican government’s call to provide innovative solutions in response to the COVID-19 virus.

Beenie’s decision to sell the masks might have stemmed from the response he garnered two weeks ago when he posted a grayscale photo of himself wearing a similar mask with his moniker emblazoned on it.  At the time fans from various countries called for him to sell them replicas of the item, and kept asking where they could get them to purchase.

Interestingly Beenie Man’s new venture comes 29 years after he released one of his lesser-known songs titled Shipment A Mask, whilst still a teenager in 1991 on the Pocoman Jam Riddim, to the flow of Shabba Ranks’ Trailer Load A Girls.

Update: Beenie edited his post this morning saying the masks are not for sale. “All King Beenie Man mask are not for sale.  They are strictly for fans!!! DM to get yours”, the post now reads.

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