Rick Wayne. Photo: Star Newspaper.
(SNO) – Talk show host and newspaper publisher, Rick Wayne, has defended Allen Chastanet’s use of the word “jackasses” at a political meeting recently, saying that the prime minister was using a “figure of speech”.
Chastanet had said: “I’m gonna let you know, as tough as the work has been, you can see me tonight. I am more energised and more committed than I have ever been before. I have taken the advice of Sir John: I don’t listen, I let the jackasses bray. All morning, they can bray but I not taking on the donkey, I’m continuing to work.”
He has come under heavy criticism from the main opposition, St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP), for using the word at his United Workers Party (UWP) public meeting.
Pierre
Opposition Leader Philip J. Pierre said a press conference on June 19: “On the second anniversary upon assuming office, when the customary gesture by the prime minister should be an expression of gratitude to the citizens of this country for having given him the highest honour and privilege he shamelessly used the opportunity to hurl insults at Saint Lucians by referring to them as jackasses.
“He shamelessly used the opportunity to hurl insults at Saint Lucians by referring to them as jackasses. We are not sure what exactly he meant, given there are two definitions of a jackass. Did he mean that Saint Lucians are idiots? Which would fit the definition of stupidity or that we are no more than adults, we are no more than animals, male donkeys, the second definition of the word jackass. Whichever he meant, it is highly offensive and disrespectful.”
However, Wayne said the prime minister was not calling anyone a jackass in particular but was just drawing reference to a figure of speech that is commonly used by calypso artistes.
Pm Chastanet
Wayne, the editor of The St. Lucia Star, said: “Nobody can tell you who in particular he’s talking to, because some tell you it was the calypsonians, some say it was the opposition. Some say its the Lucians generally. They don’t even know who he is referring to, because in fact he was using a figure of speech not identifying anybody, but telling you in fact a principle of his, is not to pay attention to obvious naysayers, people who don’t want anything to go right in the country, people who want to discourage any support of anything that is right in the country. They are naysayers. And he is telling you, they are jackasses braying as far as he is concerned.”
Pierre has since called on the prime minister to apologise.
“The Saint Lucia Labour Party condemns the behaviour of the prime minister and calls on him to retract and apologise to Saint Lucians for calling them jackasses and to exercise the respect and maturity that is befitting of a responsible and caring leader,” Pierre said.
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