Shaggy and Friends charity concert might go extinct thanks to unfounded attacks on the dancehall legend.
Shaggy is responding to a newspaper report claiming that he has not turned over the JM$100 million raised from the last staging of his Shaggy and Friends benefit concert in 2018. This is not the first time that the Jamaican artist has been forced to clear the air. But a visibly annoyed Shaggy assured donors that the funds will be used for the intended purpose.
According to a local newspaper report on Monday, Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton shared his concerns that five years later, the funds have not flowed to the children of the Bustamante Children’s Hospital, the beneficiary of the funds raised by the Shaggy Make A Difference Foundation. In a new interview with the Observer, the “Angel” deejay says they are now in the planning phase to refurbish and expand portions of the hospital to accommodate more kids and give better care.
“We have to get a budget together, drawings done, contractors,” he said while noting that it takes time to get the best team in place for the job. “We have to get all of them in place first and get the best.”
Shaggy also noted that part of the delay was the global pandemic which lasted the better part of two years or more. Coupled that with other roadblocks in getting land space secured for the original plan to build a new facility. In responding to the recent newspaper headline, the artist makes it clear that he and his team have never operated under the intention that they would simply hand over funds they raised. He stated that funds have always been used to buy equipment and refurbish the hospital.
In addressing the burning question of whether or not he will host another staging of his benefit concert, Shaggy says it remains a matter to be discussed with his partners, who are disgusted by the attacks.
“In my heart of hearts I would love to because you have to put the children first and we saw the good that it did,” he said. “It is not a conversation for myself, it is a conversation that involves these people (partners of Shaggy and Friends). The preliminary conversation I have had with them, they are a little gutted and disgusted by the situation.”
Shaggy ended by saying that perhaps time will change things down the road, but when that time comes, he and his team will make the decision.
