ENTERTAINMENT YEAR-IN-REVIEW 2018: Capleton makes headlines

Capleton hit the headlines in 2018 and, for the most part, it was not about his music.

The St Mary-born, 51-year-old artiste, whose given name is Clifton Bailey, was arrested and charged with rape in May. According to the Corporate Communications Unit, the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s information arm, Capleton hired a hairdresser to groom his hair at a New Kingston hotel on April 28, and it is alleged he forcibly had sexual intercourse with her.

The hairdresser made a report to the police on May 2. Police reports also indicate that later that day, Capleton went to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station and reported a case of extortion against the woman. He was arrested and charged after being interviewed in the presence of his attorney.

On May 14, Capleton, having spent three nights in lock-up, appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court before magistrate Vaughn Smith and was granted bail in the sum of $250,000. A request by Clerk of Court Hansurd Lawson for the entertainer to surrender his travel documents was denied considering his overseas commitments.

The case is still in the courts.

Meanwhile in June, Capleton disclosed that there would be changes to his annual charity show A St Mary Mi Come From. Usually held in August, it shifted dates to November; in addition, the event which was held at Gray’s Inn Sports Complex, Annotto Bay, in recent years moved to Kingston.

Regarding the change in the date, Capleton said: “We just wanted a new look and that time of year is in keeping with what we want.”

He first organised the show in 2000 and it was held every year until 2012. Between 2013 and 2015, the show took a three-year hiatus before returning in 2016.

Over the years a number of organisations and institutions in St Mary, have been beneficiaries of A St Mary Mi Come From, including the St Mary Infirmary, Port Maria Hospital, and Annotto Bay Hospital.

But it was not the welcome Capleton expected when the event unfolded on November 10 at the National Arena. The show was brought to a halt by law enforcement after it went past the 2:00 am cut-off time.

“I just have to big up all of the artistes that came out for the show and didn’t get to perform, but it was a situation where the time was against us,” Capleton told the Jamaica Observer.

In a post-event interview, his manager Claudette Kemp told the Observer that her team is on the lookout for a new venue.

By RICHARD JOHNSON
Observer senior reporter