Cultural Ambassador Anthony Gabby Carter says he would give up his designation of ambassador before he apologises for a self-penned poem about the late United Kingdom monarch Queen Elizabeth II.
The poem Good Riddance to Rubbish was circulated on social media following the announcement that the 96-year-old royal had died on Thursday September 8. It addressed Britain’s, and the role of the Monarchy, in the Transatlantic slave trade, the wealth gained, inherited and passed down through the years, and the fact that victims of these atrocities have yet to receive reparations.
Referring to Queen Elizabeth II as a “quiet wicked woman”, the poem read in part: “She inherited millions of pounds from the gains of slavery yet she allowed each colony to wallow in poverty. Seventy-five long hard years this monarch Liz did reign, she made sure her colonies made no economic gain.”
However, some people have not taken too kindly to Gabby’s sentiments labelling them as “disrespectful”, “distasteful” and “uncivilised”. Others have even gone as far as to call for Government to revoke his National Honour status if an apology is not forthcoming.
Former Barbados High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Guy Hewitt has strongly condemned the poem, saying it has brought “dishonour” to Barbados.
Hewitt argued that it was not only in poor taste, but it displayed Gabby’s ignorance of the role of a constitutional monarchy, the history of the Commonwealth of Nations and the late Queen’s role in it.
But during an interview with Barbados TODAY, the unrepentant ambassador insisted that an apology “will never happen”. As a matter of fact, he doubled down stressing: “I don’t care if she dead, she should have died every since because she has been no good to us.
“My answer to all of them is, do not expect me to apologise, do not expect me to compromise my words, do not expect me to kowtow, bow or any of the sort. Do not expect me to, in any form or fashion, change my mind or my rhetoric when it comes to Queen Elizabeth II of England. She is no different than her grandmother Victoria.
“I born fearless. I told them this did not start yesterday. It didn’t start when I became a known artist, it started at 10 years old,” Gabby stated.
Asked whether the timing of his comments was appropriate, the former calypso monarch unapologetically stated that in spite of his position as Cultural Ambassador, he has a constitutional right to speak his mind as an individual when he deems it fit. In addition, he queried why he should have waited, posing a rhetorical question about whether relatives whose children or mother had been killed and the murderer was executed, needed to wait until a certain time had passed to voice their opinion.
The acclaimed calypsonian also lashed out against critics whom he characterised as “apologists” for Great Britain and who he charged, would be okay if former colonies like Barbados were to be colonised again. He maintained that having previously stood up to giants like former Prime Ministers the Right Excellent Errol Barrow, Tom Adams and Owen Arthur, the utterances of condemnation would never faze him.
“I have always stated my position from the time I was ten years old. I have always been against colonialism. I have always been against what the Queen stood for, they have never been any good to us. So, I don’t have no apologies to make to a boy about that. I speak the truth and from my heart
“We have always had people who are hypocritical and want to speak with their tongue-tied and Hollywood acting and I have never been a person like that. I come straight from the barrel and shoot,” Gabby said while imploring Barbadians to be less cowardly.
He continued: “I remember when I brought Boots, Tom Adams said I was trying to undermine the great Barbados military servers, and when I brought Jack a couple lawyers tell me I should apologise because Jack has the right and the power to stop you from working in the hotels and it happened.
“And for 30 years I ain’t work in the hotels but it doesn’t make no difference to me. I am a soldier out here. . . . I swore from that day [when I was 10] I would always be against colonialism, the Queen or whatever that they got up there. I will fight it and I have fought it with songs like Take Down Nelson, Riots in the Land, Lizzy, Jack, Boots, Emmerton. Every single time I did, in the back of my head I am seeing these colonialists who sent us into slavery and who refuse to pay reparations. So they don’t understand me.” (KC)
