Junior Monarch incident sparks controversy

The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) has responded to the controversy surrounding an incident involving Junior Monarch contestant Trinity Clarke during the competition’s intermission.

Prominent vocalist Kareen Clarke, Trinity’s mother, alleged in a Facebook post that her daughter had been “assaulted” by a security team member at the venue. She claimed Trinity was “unjustly penalised”, resulting in a lower placement, and declared that they had retained legal counsel to request a review of the competition points.

NCF chief executive officer Carol Roberts, speaking on the Voice of Barbados radio, sought to clarify the timeline and implications of the alleged incident.

“Given when the incident is alleged to have occurred, which was during the intermission, there was no way that the subsequent result could have been affected by any incident outside of the performance space,” Roberts said. She emphasised that all calypso contestants had performed before the intermission, making it impossible for judges to have considered the incident in their scoring.

She insisted that Clarke’s final placement would remain unchanged. “One has nothing to do with the other,” she said. “Why would there be? Essentially, there’s no change to her status. As anything, as far as the foundation is concerned, there’s no change to anything.”

Roberts dismissed the suggestion that Clarke’s final position was influenced by the incident as “an unfortunate statement” and “a stretch of someone’s immense imagination”.

Initially intending to handle the matter privately, Roberts said she felt compelled to address it publicly due to escalating commentary. “Upon seeing subsequent posts and hearing some of the comments, I feel constrained on behalf of the foundation, as its CEO, but also on behalf of a service provider that we would have engaged and the management of a facility that we would have rented to go a bit further. And to say publicly that from the time I heard of this incident, I would have requested a report from the music officer involved, who in turn requested a report from one of the prime witnesses as to what occurred, and to the security officer in charge. I received these two reports before 10 o’clock this morning. It was my intention to deal with this matter away from the glare of the media. But I have to now because we’ve been thrown into said glare.”

She revealed that reports from witnesses and the security officer presented a different version of events from what had been circulated on social media.

“What is alleged to have occurred is that both Kareen Clarke and Trinity allegedly attempted to access a restricted area and were advised not to do so by the security officer. Trinity ignored the request or the direction and attempted to access the space upon which she was restrained by the security officer,” Roberts said.

According to these reports, Trinity became “hysterical and aggressive”, prompting intervention from an eyewitness and police. The police officer reportedly facilitated a resolution, with both parties acknowledging their actions and apologising to each other.

Roberts expressed surprise at the differing accounts presented on social media by Kareen Clarke. “What you would have heard from Ms Clarke varies in very key ways, and what would have been posted earlier on social media varies in very key ways from the reports received by the foundation.”

Regarding potential legal challenges, Roberts emphasised the importance of following legal counsel. “My position on legal matters is that that is why they are attorneys at law. And therefore, you follow the guidance, the counsel, and the advice of the attorney at law that you have commissioned, recruited, or hired to represent you.”

The NCF CEO confirmed that Trinity Clarke’s status as a contestant in the Pic-O-De-Crop competition remains unchanged. She added: “We as the adults, whether it’s in this festival school system or whatever, have to be extremely careful of what we impart, try to impart, or try to inculcate in our young people. [In] the same way that we nurture, encourage, prep, prime, and all the rest of our young people to aim to win, by the same token, we should also be responsible enough to be able to inculcate in them from very early acceptance of results and outcomes and, you know, rising above disappointment.”