BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE contentious issue between Gustav ‘SMI’ Smith and Music Festival’s co-host Naeemah Hazelle has been resolved, but not before Magic and the co-host’s mother, Ambassador Rosalyn Hazelle, had their say in the matter.
According to Magic, who also co-hosted this year’s St. Kitts Music Festival, Naeemah had done nothing wrong during her introduction of SMI to the stage on Saturday (Jun. 28), the final night of the annual event.
The Marketing and Sales Manager of Radio St. Kitts-Nevis was not appreciative of SMI’s comments and vehemently defended his colleague, whom he claimed was suffering from fatigue and a throat problem.
“I do not appreciate the comments SMI made on his Facebook page concerning Naeemah. She did nothing wrong and was very professional as a co-host. Yet, SMI, in his wisdom, decided to launch an attack on her character which was malicious in nature,” Magic said.
He explained to this publication that Naeemah’s task for this year’s Music Festival was an arduous one, and she should be commended for the herculean efforts she put into it to realise success.
“Not only did Naeemah co-host the three-night event; she was also responsible for receiving the overseas-bases artistes, have sit-down interviews with them and to accompany them at every engagement. In other words, one of her tasks was that of a chaperone.
“On the final night of the event, Naeemah was obviously stressed out and did not speak much whilst co-hosting because of a throat problem. To a keen observer, her discomfiture was also evident in her attire that night, for she had a scarf neatly wrapped around that area of her anatomy. At back stage she was constantly seen consuming a lot of water and, on enquiring, I was told that it was in an effort to ease the pain in her throat.”
Magic is of the view that SMI, like most of the young artistes in the Federation, believes that they are professionals.
“Many young and up-coming artistes in St. Kitts and Nevis think that they are professionals. That is a false sense of pride! And on the night of SMI’s performance, most of the crowd was not favourably responding to him…they were responding to Rowland, the act before him, and the dynamic one after him, Tyrese Gibson.
“I want to believe that SMI’s attack on Naeemah’s character is an act of jealousy, and my advice to him and other young and upcoming artistes is that they must first be accepted in their community before they could be accepted nationwide, regionally and internationally.”
Naeemah’s mother, too, took offence at SMI’s diatribe posted on his Facebook page and noted that the statement he made after its removal was not an apology in the true sense of the word.
“The apology that he had given before was not really an apology. It was not an apology for what he said about my child! It was an apology that he reacted badly, and that was two different things.”
The Ambassador however relented following a telephone conversation with him.
“I was very upset over the matter and while having a telephone conversation with him, during which he offered an apology, I told him that my intension was to seek legal advice. I also gave him Naeemah’s number. They spoke and she told me that in addition to apologising to her, he also did so publicly whilst on Pinocchio’s show at ZIZ.
“I said to him that my daughter has a good reputation in this society; she has a lot of students out there and some of them have been online and saw what you posted. He told me that he did it in anger, but after going to bed and awakening some three hours after, he realised that he was wrong and immediately removed it from his Facebook page.
“I explained to him that these are not the days when you say or do things and when the newspapers picks it up it stays there. These are days when we go viral. Unfortunately, his comments went viral and Naeemah’s brothers had called and they were not pleased about the situation. He said he was sorry and that he had handled it wrongly. He also said, ‘I was angry about other things and I lashed out at Naeemah, which I shouldn’t have.’
Ambassador Hazelle declared that because of the training she instilled in her six children, especially in letting them know that they were responsible for their character, Naeemah has been an excellent student and this was reflected in the way she handled the situation.
In her advice to those who allow anger to get the better of them, Ambassador Hazelle said: “We all get angry, we all get upset, but when we feel that we cannot control that anger and we cannot control our emotions, we need to stop and think and understand that the power of the tongue, the pen and the finger, have far reaching implications that can damage not only the individual who has been targeted, but also you the person who is putting it out there.”
Meanwhile, on her Facebook page, a forgiving Naeemah wrote:: “Okay peeps, it seems all the talk is about this SMI Facebook post business. SMI has called and personally apologized for his words and actions. While I didn't feel I shortchanged him on his intro, his perception resulted in comments that were both slanderous and offensive, but his apology was humble and sincere; and as such I accept it. Who in life among us has not made a poor decision in haste or anger? I wish the young man success in his future endeavours and would like to put all of this confusion to rest please??. Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support.”
Just hours after his performance at the final night (Jun. 28) of this year’s Music Festival, SMI vented his anger for the perceived manner in which he was introduced by Naeemah.
He claimed that she placed a great deal of emphasis on American Grammy-nominated R&B singer, songwriter, actor, author and television producer Tyrese Gibson when he (SMI) was about to make his appearance onstage.
Consequently, he posted some unsavory remarks and vehement accusations against Hazelle on his Facebook page; words that this publication will not repeat.
When contacted on Monday afternoon (Jun. 30), a penitent SMI told SKNVibes that he had removed the posting and replaced it with an apology.
“Following what she did Saturday night, anger got the best of me. But after I had awakened on the following day, I realised what anger can make one do out of character and I removed the comment and replaced it with an apology.”
