Attorney Christopher Townsend says several of his colleagues in the legal profession have urged him to take Mavado to court over a social media post in which the dancehall star linked him to a thief. He has decided against it.
The post remains online, Townsend noted. Even so, he is choosing to treat the outburst as the product of a heated moment rather than grounds for legal action.
“I’ve been invited by many attorneys to file my lawsuit and take half of his wealth,” he said. Asked whether he was serious about being advised to do so, Townsend confirmed that he was.
Townsend described his connection to Mavado as unusual. He said “it’s a strange thing,” given the history between them.
That history, as he tells it, dates back to the case turmoil of the Vybz Kartel era, when Townsend says he was called on to step into a tense situation involving the artist.
According to Townsend, a group within the legal profession asked him to see how best he could deal with Mavado and help prevent a major scandal. When he arrived, he said, the first person he saw was the deejay himself, and Mavado was clearly upset.
“He was very very angry,” Townsend recalled, adding that the artist was there with others. He said he did not know what Mavado might have done, but he spoke with him directly.
That conversation, Townsend said, defused the moment. He believes Mavado “demonstrated that he had sufficient respect for me to cease and desist from whatever it is that he was doing,” and the exchange that followed was cordial.
From there, Townsend said, he went to speak with Mavado’s lawyer and worked out arrangements on the artist’s behalf. He described those arrangements as ones “which benefited him greatly.”
It was that history that made Mavado’s later post sting. Townsend said that when he saw the comments, he was struck by the fact that they came from a man he had gone out of his way to help.
Still, he has chosen to extend the artist some grace. “I suspect that he was very angry at the time and he might have misspoke as a result,” he said.
Townsend stressed that the two had no prior conflict. “I never had a problem with him,” he said, noting that he also knows some of Mavado’s friends.
For Townsend, the decision not to sue comes down to principle. “I don’t do those things for money,” he said, explaining that he sees no reason to create bad blood over a financial payout.
“He made a mistake,” he said plainly. He continued, “I’ve known him to be a decent human being and he was angry and he made a mistake.”
Townsend said he has no intention of hurting Mavado financially over the matter. He was quick to clarify that the decision is not a sign of personal riches on his part. “Not that I’m wealthy or anything,” he added, before making it clear that he does not need that kind of money.
The episode offers a rare look at the relationships that can form between artists and the legal figures who move around them during high-pressure cases. In Townsend’s telling, one tense encounter turned into a cordial working understanding, then into a public slight. It has now settled into a choice to let the matter rest.
Whether Mavado will revisit or remove the post remains to be seen. For now, Townsend appears content to leave it where it is and move on without a courtroom fight.
