Teflon Defends Buju Banton But Says Message ‘Too Harsh’

 

Dancehall artiste Teflon has come to the defense of music icon Buju Banton, saying that there was some validity to his comments on masks and COVID-19 but that the delivery of the message was “too harsh”.

“Mi see what him trying to say, this mask thing really hand-bugging and inconvenient to the people. He has a point, but when he sent the message, there were too many bad words, and it was too explicit, and harsh to the ears of the people,” Teflon said.

“When you are talking to the youths and the elders, you have to keep things on a level. Don’t send a message with ignorance and arrogance or you will make yourself a fool in the eyes of the people.”

Last Wednesday, Buju Banton took to Instagram in an expletive-laced tirade denouncing the wearing of masks, saying that “Who fi dead ago dead and who nah go dead, haffi jus live. We tired of you intellectual fools trying to tell us how to live our lives”.

The infectious COVID-19 virus has claimed over one million lives globally while infecting over 40 million people. In Jamaica, the total number of positive cases was 8,714, with 188 deaths up to Saturday afternoon.

Teflon believes that artistes have abdicated their sense of social responsibility, and must realize that society needs them to act in a way that ensures the ‘greater good’.

“The problem is that artistes don’t see their responsibility and powers again cause artistes say dem nah grow nobody’s children but Buju needs to remember the root, his life is not for him alone, a mask protects other people, this is for the greater good of everyone because this disease is serious. After Buju made the post, my sister who is a nurse, called to say ‘wear yu mask’, this COVID-19 is not a joke thing, she is on the front lines, she is seeing how deadly it is,” Teflon said.

Teflon, whose given name is Shaniel Watson, emerged on the scene in 2003. He scored his first hit two years later with Gun Rise. The singjay has high hopes for his soon-to-be-released Years A Pain album.

“This album is the embodiment of the struggle of poor people for self-empowerment and self-discovery and financial and spiritual independence. We ah go through years a pain, just look at the events of 2020 alone and see for yourself,” he said.

In the meantime, Dr. Christopher Tufton, health and wellness minister, used his weekly COVID-19 virtual press conference to set the record straight in light of Buju Banton’s recent anti-mask wearing utterance.

“Wearing of masks, it is the norm, not the exception. In the developed world, in the United States, it’s all there. We’re very confident it is the right thing to do and we certainly would encourage Jamaicans to comply, and this is why this is part of the law, as contained in the orders,” Tufton said on Thursday evening. “We will continue to push that message because we think it’s the right thing so to do.”

Tufton’s position echoes the position of the World Health Organization which states that wearing a mask, especially when persons cannot social distance six feet, limits the risk of getting COVID-19.