Verizon drops rapper Akon after Trinidad video controversy

[beattyfamily]

Good! I cannot believe he does this at every concert but now there is a controversy because this particular girl in Trinidad was only 15. I think it's unacceptable at any age, IMHO.

He simulates sex on stage.

I also think this behavoir is much worse than some things people have been getting fired/suspended for in recent weeks. I wish that Gwen Stefani would stand up and kick him off her concert tour. That would be great!

HERE is the story. You can also see the video in question still on YouTube but it is disturbing. There are other videos as well at other concerts, however, those women were over 18.

Forgive me if this has been posted already. I did a search and didn't find anything. I'd love to know if he's been more reserved at Gwen's concerts.

In this day and age with video cameras in phones and YouTube, you need to be very careful about what you do in public!

Verizon Drops Akon Like He's Hot

Verizon really didn't want to see Akon "Smack That."

The communications company scrapped its partnership with the 25-year-old rapper Friday after a video was released that shows him simulating sex onstage with an underage girl during an Apr.12 concert in Trinidad.

According to various accounts, 15-year-old Danah Alleyne thought she had won a dance contest when she was invited to dance with Akon, but soon found out that first prize was a close encounter with the Konvicted rapper.

The Trinidad Express reported that Akon got seven women to come up and dance with him, promising that the best of the bunch would score a grand-prize trip to Africa.

"We've never done this in the Caribbean before, but my DJ assures me that Trinidad has the best winers. Is that true? Well, y'all gotta represent here. Come on up now. Don't be scared," he told the crowd.

"I got carried away," Alleyne, a pastor's daughter, said in a public apology last month after a local TV station aired the footage. "I started to dance, as well, but I never thought it was going to be like that. I was shocked. My head was hitting the floor."

None of which sat well with Verizon, which will be taking their featured ring tones elsewhere.

"After several weeks of review and consideration of various issues, Verizon made the business decision last week to no longer support Akon in any way, including pulling out of the Stefani concert tour sponsorship to which he had been booked as an act," a Verizon spokeswoman told E! News.

The video depicting Akon improvising multiple sexual positions with Alleyne turned up on, and has since been pulled from, YouTube, but it can still be found elsewhere on the Internet.

Alleyne wasn't even supposed to be in the over-18 Zen nightclub, where the unofficial dance contest went down. Authorities have since closed the establishment and Trinidadian Prime Minster Patrick Manning has opened an investigation into the show.

"I have taken very careful notice of this matter and the owner of Zen owes it to the public to take responsibility," Manning told WorldNetDaily.com. "I will be interfacing with Zen because that kind of thing should never be allowed to happen in this country."

Meanwhile, Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds thinks Akon should get the Richard Gere treatment, describing his actions as "lewd" and suggesting that the hip-hop star be prosecuted.

"This whole hip hop thing is a guise and I don't want any part of it," Alleyne said. "I don't want any part of it. Look at what I have to go through with one mistake that I made. My dad warned me every time and I didn't listen. I am sorry."

Akon performed "The Sweet Escape" with Stefani on American Idol in March and then appeared two weeks later to sing "Don’t Matter." His sophomore album Konvicted dropped in November and has sold more than 2.2 million copies.

 

[Christine]

I'll be seeing Akon tomorrow night at the Gwen Stefani show. I wonder how "tame" he will be.

 

[Cindy B]

So many things wrong here---

What was a 15 year old doing at an 18 and over club?

Did you see her hoochie shirt?

The report said her father was a minister -- there is definetely a different dynamic here.

Could she have said no or gotten caught up in the frenzy/excitement?

I'm not condonining Akon's actions, but if I was a performer in a 18 and up club I would think that the management of the club would enforce age limits.

If anyone has seen Prince's Purple Rain video/movie-- the simulated actions are nothing new-- Prince did them 20 years ago. Lots of performers use sex in shows, if not that way--in other ways such as limited clothing (remember the Red Hot Chili Peppers socks only outfit?), or have dancing girl poles (Girls Girls Girls- Motley Crue anyone?).

Was the guise of a contest a lure? Who knows?

And what is the age of consent in Trinidad anyway? Is it lower than 18? Some countries have no age of consent. I know someone who got married at 14! (She is one of the moms from school and is from Albania.)

 

[beattyfamily]

So many things wrong here---

What was a 15 year old doing at an 18 and over club?

Did you see her hoochie shirt?

The report said her father was a minister -- there is definetely a different dynamic here.

Could she have said no or gotten caught up in the frenzy/excitement?

I'm not condonining Akon's actions, but if I was a performer in a 18 and up club I would think that the management of the club would enforce age limits.

If anyone has seen Prince's Purple Rain video/movie-- the simulated actions are nothing new-- Prince did them 20 years ago. Lots of performers use sex in shows, if not that way--in other ways such as limited clothing (remember the Red Hot Chili Peppers socks only outfit?), or have dancing girl poles (Girls Girls Girls- Motley Crue anyone?).Was the guise of a contest a lure? Who knows?

And what is the age of consent in Trinidad anyway? Is it lower than 18? Some countries have no age of consent. I know someone who got married at 14! (She is one of the moms from school and is from Albania.)

I understand however, did you see the video? It's very disturbing and nothing like what Prince has done.

 

[MamaLema]

I don't know much about Akon, but I don't think it's his fault the girl was underage.

 

[Cindy B]

I understand however, did you see the video? It's very disturbing and nothing like what Prince has done.

I saw the video. Did you see Purple Rain? Prince does the same thing on the stage (I"m talking the movie, not the video).

What is the age of consent in Trinidad?

 

[Free4Life11]

I am glad they did this! Very disturbing video and he has got the MOST annoying voice! I really dislike him and think he's a disgusting person. Then again he did write the song "I Want to **** You." The fact that he was in jail for grand theft auto for a few years doesn't improve my opinion of him.

 

[Tiggeroo]

no I don't think Akon was in the wrong here. You choose to go to a show like that. You are supposed to be 18. So you are sneaking into an 18 and up club, dance with the talent (who thinks you are at least 18)in an explicit way, it turns up on video and you complain.
Listen to some of Akon's songs. You couldn't expect it to be a mild performance

 

[beattyfamily]

I saw the video. Did you see Purple Rain? Prince does the same thing on the stage (I"m talking the movie, not the video).

What is the age of consent in Trinidad?

Yep, I did. I think they are quite different in that in the Prince movie they are adults and they are acting, not everyday folks.

 

[Cindy B]

I answered my own question.

Interpol --age of consent laws for Trinadad and Tobago.

http://www.interpol.int/Public/Children/SexualAbuse/NationalLaws/csaTrinidadtobago.asp

It is 16 in Trinidad, however if the person is Muslim or Hindu it is lower.

 

[beattyfamily]

I guess I'm a prude then because I think what he does at his concerts is wrong no matter the age of the women. Much worse for women than what others have been fired for lately.

Thank you, Verizon.

 

[MamaLema]

no I don't think Akon was in the wrong here. You choose to go to a show like that. You are supposed to be 18. So you are sneaking into an 18 and up club, dance with the talent (who thinks you are at least 18)in an explicit way, it turns up on video and you complain.
Listen to some of Akon's songs. You couldn't expect it to be a mild performance

 

[Cindy B]

Yep, I did. I think they are quite different in that in the Prince movie they are adults and they are acting, not everyday folks.

Acting or not, Prince did many of those acts on stage for many years. Akon is an adult. He is 25.

The girl snuck in to a 18 and over club with a very hoochie outfit. She never said she was underage. She never walked away.

His songs are on the hoochie side, so I would understand completely that type of behavior on stage.

 

[RadioNate]

everyone thought it was funny when he did the same thing to train-wreck Tara Reid.

 

[Heidict]

I think his little act on stage is sad and disgusting but sex is what is selling these days. Just look at most of the music videos out there.

Akon though is not at fault that this girl is only 15. She probably had fake ID to get into the club, so the club can't really have to much blame put on them.

She is a 15 year old who wanted to see Akon and probably loved that fact that she got called up on stage to do this with him. Of course, the video came out and now mommy and daddy are angry at her so she starts screaming foul.

 

[beattyfamily]

Wow, so it's not ok to call women a ho but you can treat them like one.

So if someone dresses like a tramp, you can treat them like one.

So it's ok to simulate sex aggressively onstage and there's nothing wrong with that. Got it.

It sounds to me like she had no clue what he was going to do. She thought she'd be dancing with him and win a trip to Africa. Oh well.

I'm officially bummed.

 

[lulugirl]

no I don't think Akon was in the wrong here. You choose to go to a show like that. You are supposed to be 18. So you are sneaking into an 18 and up club, dance with the talent (who thinks you are at least 18)in an explicit way, it turns up on video and you complain.
Listen to some of Akon's songs. You couldn't expect it to be a mild performance

I agree.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

I think his little act on stage is sad and disgusting but sex is what is selling these days. Just look at most of the music videos out there.

Akon though is not at fault that this girl is only 15. She probably had fake ID to get into the club, so the club can't really have to much blame put on them.

She is a 15 year old who wanted to see Akon and probably loved that fact that she got called up on stage to do this with him. Of course, the video came out and now mommy and daddy are angry at her so she starts screaming foul.

Exactly what I thought! I went to Youtube and watched what was available on this and in the pictures the girl is smiling the whole time! AND that includes when she is on top simulating sex.

I listen to Akon and I wouldn't expect to go to his concert and do the Achy Breaky Shuffle,heck,I don't expect to go to a club and do a line dance--dancing for quite some time now has been all about going as far as you can without going anywhere.

People are taking this way to far. Let it go. He did nothing wrong.

 

[nuke]

I think what's disturbing is that he swung her around like she was a rag doll. She really could of gotten hurt!

I think every parent of teenage girls should show them the video and ask them if they would want grandma to see them doing something like that. It might make them think before acting.

 

[lulugirl]

Wow, so it's not ok to call women a ho but you can treat them like one.

So if someone dresses like a tramp, you can treat them like one.

So it's ok to simulate sex aggressively onstage and there's nothing wrong with that. Got it.

It sounds to me like she had no clue what he was going to do. She thought she'd be dancing with him and win a trip to Africa. Oh well.

I'm officially bummed.

I don't think any of it is "okay". I find him absolutely vile which is why I would not be caught dead at one of his shows.
I just disagree that this was some clueless, innocent girl.
I believe he assumed she was of legal age. I still think it's disgusting but what consenting adults( again, I think he reasonably assumed she was a consenting adult) do is not really my business.