‘Don’t break the unity’ - Call for level heads as Bounty Killer and Beenie Man trade words

Members of the dancehall community last night called for calm as veteran dancehall artistes Bounty Killer and Beenie Man got into a testy exchange on Instagram.

In the comments section of a post on Bounty Killer's Instagram page, dancehall heavyweight Cham publicly encouraged the two deejays to remain calm.

"Don't Break the Unity in The Community. Don't Take the Unity Out the Community," he wrote.

Both artistes were billed to perform at 'Celebrating the Legends: The Icon Edition' scheduled for the The Marketplace Entertainment Centre for the Arts (MECA) on Tuesday evening. The event, organised by Dancehall Queen Carlene, is to raise funds for cancer. During one of the promotional videos for the show, Beenie Man, whose given name is Moses Davis, referred to Bounty Killer, given name Rodney Price, as a friend and an icon. Both were also to be presented with the very first MECA Icon award during the show.

Bounty Killer accused Beenie Man of dissing him at Reggae Sumfest while Beenie Man listed a litany of things including an alleged slight at a birthday event for Harry Toddler.

Beenie Man has since deleted his posts which declared his distrust of his colleague and later posted a thank you to disc jockey and radio host, Kurt Riley.

"Good vibes and good energy @djkurtriley. Greater things are in store. We are looking [forward], not backward. We are releasing all bad vibes," the post said.

It was captioned "There is always someone who reminds you of what is at stake. Big Up @djkurtriley and @mdmusicgroup".

Beenie Man and Bounty Killer have had a long-standing feud for years but had seemingly ended the beef and forged a friendship. Fans were delighted to see the duo perform together during the Verzuz battle which trended worldwide and injected positivity into the dancehall industry.

Though reluctant to comment on the brewing conflict between the artistes, noted psychologist Dr Leahcim Semaj, while speaking with THE STAR, explained that it not the responsibility of dancehall artistes to shape their behaviours to become role models even though their actions may have a great influence on the society.

"It is not a part of their job description," he said.

"Dancehall artistes have always done what they felt like doing. Yes, they might be popular and carry much weight to those who do not have proper guidance or anybody else to look to, but really it is parents' responsibility to raise their children. Artistes can only just put out a body of work and enjoy what they are doing. When they take things too far, the law and court of public opinion will deal with them. But they can only do their jobs," he continued.