Ishawna Shares Some ‘Equal Rights’ With Life Size Cut-Out Of Bounty Killer At Sumfest
‘Dancehall Cinderalla’ Ishawna brought her usual controversial style during her set at Reggae Sumfest 2022, this time involving the Warlord Bounty Killer with her ‘Equal Rights’ campaign.
The singjay, who has always been a champion for men performing oral sex on women, had covered Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You to dedicate a whole song to the act. Equal Rights, which was recently re-released with Sheeran’s blessing, is one of Ishawna’s most popular songs.
However, the thousands of fans who turned out to Catherine Hall in Montego Bay were left shocked and amused when the singer brought life-size cut-outs of Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton, and Bounty Killer during her set.
She danced with each of the cut-outs in a risqué nude mesh bodysuit with nipple covers, a shiny bikini bottom, and a 50-inch matching ‘diamond’ wig, but gave Killer’s cut-out some extra attention while performing Equal Rights.
Ishawna’s antics at Sumfest 2022 even caused the segment’s emcee, Miss Kitty, to publicly announce that she is separating herself from any controversy that might follow.
Equal Rights, which was first released in 2017, had come in for outright condemnation from many music selectors who refused to play it, among them Ishawna’s ex and father of her son, Foota Hype. At the time Foota had said that he was sorry for their now 16-year-old son Oshawn whom he was certain would be mocked by his peers, due to the lyrical content of his mother’s song.
In 2017, Bounty Killer had threatened to ‘rush’ (interrupt) Ishawna if she sang Equal Rights at a concert in St. Elizabeth where they were both billed to perform.
“@mslegendary cyaah sing tha song deh at this show else mi ago rush har Nuh kitten or Catfish can nuh bloodclaath bother come bcuz that cyaah sing else she cannot be on no more shows with me either mi nuh sing fi bowcat or bowfish?,” he wrote on Instagram at the time. The post was subsequently deleted.
Ishawna responded, telling Killer to ‘bring it on’, seemingly unmoved by his threat. “This festive bad,” she said. “Mi never know me and Killa a guh war dung a Portland next week? Bring it on Rodney! #equalrights.”
She went on to perform the song in Killer’s presence at the event to massive approval from the crowd. After refusing to use the same microphone that Ishawna had used, Bounty then launched into his misogynistic hits from the 90s.
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Killer has not yet commented on this morning’s controversy, but Ishawna has said that she’s not worried about any backlash or concerned about it upsetting any of the three men portrayed in the cut-outs.
“I sat on a cardboard box,” she told THE STAR. “It’s all just entertainment.”
“If Andrew Holness or anybody war me bout dah cardboard deh yuh see… address Donna-Lee [Donaldson],” Ishawna declared.
“It’s sad and depressing that particular case; I have a lot to say about it because I don’t believe anything is being done. It should be addressed publicly by public figures.”
Ishawna recently collaborated with Sheeran on Brace It, which is now her most popular song on several streaming platforms.