Following her awkward interaction with Prime Minister Andrew Holness, which sparked backlash over the weekend, Tanya Stephens detailed what happened between them on Wednesday.
At the root of the backlash was a video of Stephens not shaking Holness’s hands while at a party. On Sunday, Stephens accused Holness of releasing an edited video that removed their handshake.
In her live stream on her Instagram page today, she expressed that while he may not have been the one who edited the video, it would not have been shared on his Instagram page without his approval. Stephens said the video was also edited to show him shaking the hands of several other people before her despite Holness speaking to her before them.
“Yuh si him show him a shake everybody else hand, and hug up, and a mi him pass fi guh which part yuh si him show di first set a people weh him talk to… But dem cut it and show di others first fi meck it look like seh everybody nice and den me nuh nice,” Stephens said.
The These Streets singer said that Holness wanted to get a viral video that presented him in a positive light, and he got what he wanted. According to Stephens, before meeting the prime minister at former footballer Ian ‘Pepe’ Goodison’s party, she had left the Reggae Gold Awards that same night because of him.
Stephens expressed that she was annoyed when she accidentally met Holness at Goodison’s event. However, he was apparently happy to see her, with the artiste sharing that he described her as his friend.
“… Eh bredda walk up to mi and seh, ‘Wait, mi friend’… and him tan up a smile wid mi and den him stretch out him hand and seh, ‘yuh can at least shake mi hand,’ and mi shake it reluctantly and put mi hand back in a mi pocket. And him seh, ‘We use to be good friends,'” Stephens said.
Despite editing out their awkward interaction, she said Holness’s team chose to keep the part of the video of her laughing to make it appear that they were being friendly. The artiste added that the incident lowered her opinion of the prime minister.
“… It confirm mi worst opinion of yuh. You are as low as I thought you were. Maybe even lower, and yuh really nuh care,” Stephens stated.
She went on to recall her time as a young Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporter and shared that there was a time when she had hope for Holness as the leader of the country. However, Stephens said that she is disturbed by the current state of the JLP.
Reacting to a viewer’s statement that Holness had no control over the video being edited and shared, the It’s a Pity singer said that means he is too weak.
“If him nah nuh control ova wah guh pan him wall him too impotent, way too weak fi run a country. If you can’t even run yuh Instagram wall yuh cyah run a country.”
Watch the video with Stephens below.
