Skinny disappointed at hostility against him

Cultural ambassador and former Soca Monarch Gamal “Skinny Fabulous” Doyle is baffled by the treatment meted out to him by patrons at the recently held Soca Monarch competition.

On Saturday, July 5, before the five-time Soca Monarch appeared on stage, boos echoed from all around Victoria Park.{{more}}

“For a brief moment before I came on stage I was paralyzed. However, I decided that I am going to do this performance. Hate me or love me, I am stepping out and doing my performance and finish it, despite people throwing things on the stage…” Doyle told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday evening, shortly before leaving the state.

Many persons at the Park perhaps thought Doyle was going to perform his song “Mental Home” when a big screen showed a video of a male and female, apparently mentally ill, falling for each other. The woman later appears on screen, lying on a bed, ready to give birth. As she pushes, Doyle appears from between her legs and stands on the bed, dressed in only an adult diaper and a pair of white socks.

While some persons cheered him on, a larger section of the crowd continued their booing onslaught. Throughout his performance, glow sticks and plastic cans were thrown onto the stage in Doyle’s direction.

“To love one artiste does not equal hating the other. Jump more for the one you like. Don’t jeer for the one you don’t. We are all Vincentians…,” Doyle said.

When contacted, Delroy “Fireman” Hooper, who won the competition, said he does not support what happened to Doyle.

“I don’t support that. I don’t like it. I don’t know who instigated it, but that is a big no. I will not support that no time, whether it’s for Skinny or any other artiste. That is immature and very stupid,” Fireman said.

“I just don’t want these things to start any violence. That is just out of the way. We are not just doing this for St Vincent. We are being watched on the worldwide web. It is not good for us. It really is not selling St Vincent. Support who you want to support,” Fireman added.

Doyle said the thought of walking off the stage did pass through his mind at one point, but the professional side of him took over.

“I feel like some of the love is not real and some of the hate is not real. Some persons don’t even know why they are hating.”

According to Doyle, competition is all about winning and losing. He stated that you have to go in a competition almost prepared to lose or prepared to win.

“I was prepared to win or lose, but I was not prepared for that level of hostile demonstration against me. In my opinion, it wasn’t necessary. If you are passionate about supporting one artiste, that same passion for another artiste should not turn into a passion against his or her other rival,” he said.

“To reach to the extent of booing and throwing things on the stage was very disheartening. At the end of the day, the product I represent is a Vincentian product,” Doyle stated. He said even if one is a Fireman fan, there is no reason for you to boo or jeer other persons.

“You can cheer for who you want to cheer for, but there is no reason to boo anybody. Even if it was a case where my supporters were booing him (Fireman), I would condemn it… While we are trying to put our foot forward as a nation, we are fighting internal battles. I don’t get it,” Doyle said.

Following the announcement of Fireman as the winner, some persons in the crowd were heard saying “I glad he reach back down to earth. He too fresh!”

Doyle said he has heard those rumours about him being “fresh” and not willing to communicate with people, and stated that it is one of the stigmas/rumours he has had to deal with over the past few years.

“My personality is such that I am not one to sit on the blocks and drink rum and smoke and thing. While I may not do that, I am still very open to people. I like communication with people. I’m just not the rum shop guy. People misinterpret not being in the rum shop or on the block as being fresh. It is far from that…,” Doyle added.

“Step to me. I am very approachable. This whole fresh thing is very outrageous. The other thing is that I am hardly here in St Vincent…”

Doyle, who has quite a packed schedule, with 27 shows overseas over the next nine weeks, said half of the time, he is hardly here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“That doesn’t allow me to come back to St Vincent and do the idle thing because I am out there pumping for my country. People must not interpret that to mean anti-social or stuck up or whatever it is. It is just sad to see people were so hostile,” Doyle stated.

One online blog, published after the show, noted that the artiste had conceded defeat when he stated that he felt “the winds of change.”

However, Doyle wholly disputed that, stating that he was at the time talking about how he felt about what had happened.

“The thought was not about the winds of change as it relates to the crown. It was the winds of change of how one nation could show me love last year and in that one moment express that much hate…,” he said.

Doyle who said he has accepted defeat, stated that he is a graceful loser.

“This is not like someone coming in from Brazil. It’s Vincentians going up against Vincentians. It’s all local. I just found the hatred unnecessary.”

Doyle not only is a performer, but also promotes such shows as Uncle Skinny’s Kids Fair, Black Rave, talent shows and gives scholarships to grade six students.

“I may have deserved to lose, but I don’t deserve the hate. I try to give back to my country in any way. In the end, I will be here and I guess the agenda was to down my spirit and put me to a level where I didn’t feel like going in the competition next year. I will continue to represent St Vincent despite the unnecessary hatred that I can’t comprehend up to now,” he said.

“I could ignore it for so much, but at some point it must register. I am not sad that I lost. I am just sad that that level of hostility was meted out to me….

“Some people don’t even know the type of thing that we are doing out there to make St Vincent’s Carnival attractive. We don’t just step out as Skinny Fabulous. We step out as Skinny Fabulous from St Vincent…,” Doyle said.

At this point, Doyle says he does not know if he will enter Soca Monarch next year.

Doyle said it is embarrassing that persons have to come to St Vincent and witness that type of internal hatred.

“From my perspective, it just makes me sad. I have done nothing but produce music, put off shows and just represent my country in any way I can. The judges’ decision is final in any competition. The only part that troubles me is the unnecessary hostility,” Doyle added.

In a Facebook post, Doyle wrote: “Thank you all again for the support. Let’s love and respect all artistes… and support our music as our own. The internal pull downs, jeers, hate and fight make no sense when we have the world to conquer as Vincentians… This year’s carnival was a test for me. I will love those who showed love and still love those who showed the opposite. Congratulations to Fireman again. We win some, we lose some. I’ll be here next year. Not going anywhere.”