The lip-service apology that Akon paid to Trinidadian Danah Alleyne in the song, for the public humilation he subjected her to, “Sorry, Blame it on me” should have been widely panned for the hogwash that it is and not accepted as another hit for the singer.
Earlier in the year, following that repulsive incident at the Zen Nightclub the public had no choice but to digest somehow, the half-hearted statement he subsequently released as an apology. However, as far as his song goes, people can more than draw the line, yet “Blame it on me” is the latest anthem from the convict turned singer.
Akon’s song reflects nothing but a singer looking to cash in on a so-called apology for an incident that was as outrageous as it was needless. Here is a singer who has travelled the globe “entertaining” as they say and who has held numerous concerts that can be considered scandal free despite his usual erratic on-stage behaviour. Why then did the Trinidad show have to take the path that it did?
For a public sensitive about the abuse of women and young girls, Guyanese have had little to say about the Akon/Danah Alleyne issue. This is despite the fact that the singer was here a few months earlier and had done some rather sexually explicit stuff on stage with a few willing participants, one of whom looked about 12 years old given her physical stature.
It is true that Danah Alleyne was willing as well and that she looked as pleased as a punch after Akon dragged her around a stage like a rag doll and repeatedly dry-humped her. That not only showed a flaw in her character, it revealed too the limited mental capacity of the teenager, who was 14 at the time, to understand fully exactly what had happened to her and the possible repercussions.
Akon did fool the girl into believing that she was going onstage to ‘wine’ her body and win a trip to Africa when in fact he was the trip and Africa all in one. Again, she lacked the capacity to comprehend at the time that logistically, Akon could not have been serious given the sudden announcement and the haphazard way in which it was being marketed, among other questionable things.
Who would have thought that a few months later Akon would be profiting from an apology he made to Danah? After everything: the public shame; the verbal lynching of the teenager and extensive media coverage; Akon felt it necessary to release a song about it and profit from the incident.
Boycotting his song is probably not going to hurt him in any serious way financially, because he is a successful singer who continues to make music that people like. But it surely would have sent him the message he needs to hear: which is, that he messed up big time and has forever stained the character of an obviously confused young woman. Somehow, singing the song and rocking to it does not feel right. In case you have forgotten, he violated the young woman.
In the song Akon mentions how sorry he is that people took so long to realize that they were wrong in blaming him for the incident then went on to say that the club should not have let her in so young and he even dared to scold her father for letting her out. What is obvious is that he did not follow the reports that surfaced after because the girl, like so many young teens her age, had sneaked out that night.
Well, Akon said he is not to blame so we guess we can go ahead, slam the club and the girl’s parents for his animal-like, demeaning, public ‘rape with clothes on’ episode with Danah Alleyne, and while we are at it, let us beat her down to the ground for consenting to it.
Akon like so many of the singers out there does not really give a damn. They record music and sell it. The Danah Alleyne incident could have been a mistake and all he had to do was offer a sincere apology. But even that was hard for him to do. thescene@stabroeknews.com