The Leeward Islands Calypso Committee (the Committee) has become aware of media reports and comments by various individuals concerning the conduct of the Leeward Island Calypso Monarch Competition held on Saturday 6th August 2011 at the Landsome Bowl. The nature of these comments are centered around the conduct of the Emcee and the perception that the judging was unfair. As a result, the Committee deems it necessary to make a statement for the record.
The Committee agrees that the conduct of the Emcee was inexcusable. We sincerely apologise to anyone who was offended by his remarks.
Further, while we take full responsibility, his comments do not in any way reflect the thinking of the Committee. In our 15 years history, the Committee has always made every effort to produce an entertaining and respectful show.
We will review our criteria for the selection of an Emcee and implement the necessary changes to avoid incidents of this nature. We would also like to address the issue that the judging was biased and unfair.
We do recognize that judging any competition is more of an art than a science. Consequently, different persons may reach different conclusions. However, insofar as the perception exist that overseas competitors are in any way at a disadvantage in this competition that is not borne out by the facts.
In fact, our overseas participants have won the LICC Crown nine (9) times in our 15 year history. Nonetheless, we have to deal with the perception of local bias and every attempt will be made to eliminate that perception. Normally we have a panel of judges in which the majority will be non Anguillian Judges. However, due to budgetary constraints, for the past two (2) years we were required to use local judges.
While the judging data fails to support the notion of bias, as a committee we are confident in our choice of judges. However, we will again seek to have a panel of judges which the majority will be from islands other than the Leeward Islands.
The Committee is committed to maintaining the high standards of the LICC Monarch Show and every effort will be made to address these concerns. It is our hope that the 2012 LICC competition will be of such calibre as to overcome these present concerns.
We are grateful for all the support given us over our 15 years and we will never take your continued support for granted.
axastt says
After reading the post about the emcee conduct during the leeward islands calypso competition that occured last saturday night, I have to agree. I listened via streaming here in california and I must say that the emcee should have pulled.
Time after time he made inappropriate remarks which left me talking to myself thinking he really didn’t just say that. He was not funny, and he dragged the show.
There is nothing wrong with an emcee who has a sense of humor. We grew up with those guys from Trinidad such as Bill Trotman who was extremely funny within the context of what was happening. I don’t recall who this guy was, but each time he opened his mouth, I cringed.
I think we’re better than that. I would think the committee would have the common decency to choose someone who would be an asset to the program, not some loudmouth and crass jackass. We’re better than that.
While we’re on the subject, why is that we take all night to get through this show. It’s totally disorganized and it looks like amatuer time. I don’t know what the situation is with getting top talent to come down, but I could see why some choose to pass this year. I thought we left our bobo johnny image behind.
I stayed up all night here in California listening to the program. The way we do things in Anguilla has to be changed. We are in the big leagues, let the shows on the stage reflect it.
We have people on the island who wpuld do a superb job of producing both the queen show and both calypso shows. I know someone is probably going to say this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I do know of what I speak.
I’ve stayed in Landsome Bowl till very late hours for both the queen show and the calypso show. They took forever. Too many gaps in the show. This stuff is supposed to move like clockwork. One act off while the other is standing in the wings.
You should actually find out who won the same night. I still don’t know who won the calypso contest. I tried to tape it, but haven’t figured out how to tape a streaming comcast from the computer. I would have like to have tapes the calypso contest. I hope someone did.
Again, the emcee was insulting and downright rude. I didn’t know Anguillians could be that way. Guys, you have the talented educated people. It’s sad to see you scrape the bottom of the barrel. I’d be very interested to know if it’s just me. If we see something and we don’t like it, let us make our voices heard.