Romeich Major, manager of dancehall artiste Shenseea, has come to her defence saying that a US media outlet's bashing of the dancehall singjay for performing at an outdoor concert in Wywood, Florida, on Saturday night is "unreasonable".
In an Instagram post Monday afternoon, Major mused: “We are artistes, we are management, and we get book. If someone books us for a show, and we ask them if it's okay for the show to be kept in their area and they approve it, I don't see we're doing anything illegal. First of all, the promoter got his permit, and a lot of police was at the venue working."
Major was responding to the brouhaha created by a story aired by ABC afflilitate Local 10 WPLG, titled 'Superspreader event in Wynwood sign of the times as to why COVID-19 cases are rising', which was aired on Local 10′s Sunday news programme, This Week in South Florida. The piece showed clips of the 'Foreplay' singer deejaying and gyrating on a stage, surrounded by a throng of her cheering ‘Shenyengs’ who had flocked stage-side sans masks.
“The positivity rate right now is hovering near 10 per cent and experts say that is alarming especially considering doctors are seeing more people coming through the doors at hospitals with COVID-19. And all of his is happening as we get wind of an event over the weekend that has all the parameters of what could be considered just a super-spreader event,” news reporter Terrell Forney said. “Hundreds of people were packed in side by side Saturday night at an outdoor concert in Wynwood. They were there to see Jamaican dancehall artiste Shenseea performing, but without any obvious enforcement of COVID-19 social distancing rules. It is one example of why experts believe that South Florida, among other places around the country, are speeding toward an unsettling peak in coronavirus cases,” the reporter added.
As of Monday, Florida has recorded 885,000 positive cases and close to 18,000 deaths.
Shenseea is not the first Jamaican dancehall artiste to have come under scrutiny in the US for performing at an event where COVID-19 protocols appear to be breached.
In September, sinjay Dexta Daps was under the microscope after he reportedly held a "secret" concert in Brooklyn, New York which breached social distancing and other COVID-19 protocols.