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Artist News
Jean accuses Penn of drug use, after aid work criticism
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 8 September 2010
The more time passes, the more Wyclef Jean proves that Haiti’s Electoral Council was right to reject him as a candidate for the country’s presidential election. The musician has now responded to criticism by actor Sean Penn of his aid work (or lack of it) following the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January by accusing Penn of taking cocaine.
As previously reported, Penn co-founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organisation after the earthquake and has been working in the country as manager of the organisation’s 55,000 person camp for those left homeless in the aftermath.
Following Jean’s official announcement that he intended to stand in the Haitian presidential election, Penn told US talk show ‘Larry King Live’: “Right now, I worry that this is a campaign that is more about a vision of flying around the world, talking to people. It’s certainly not one of the youth drafting him. I would be quite sure that this is an influence of corporations here in the United States and private individuals that may well have capitalised on his will to see himself flying around the world”.
He continued: “What the Haitian people need now is a leader who is genuinely willing to sacrifice. I haven’t seen or heard anything of him [Jean] in these last six months that I’ve been in Haiti. I think he’s an important voice. I hope he doesn’t sacrifice that voice by taking the eye off the very devastating realities on the ground”.
While performing his 2004 hit ‘President’ live on US radio station Hot 97 last week, Jean hit out at Penn’s claims by saying: “I got a message for Sean Penn: Maybe he ain’t see me in Haiti because he was too busy sniffing cocaine”.
Penn’s rep, Mara Buxbaum responded by firmly denying that Penn is involved in any drug use whatsoever, adding that Jean’s outburst was “reckless and saddening, but not surprising”. She didn’t add that it’s not really the sort of reasoned retort generally expected of a hopeful future politician, but I’d imagine that’s what she was thinking.
In a statement, Buxbaum told New York Daily News: “Mr Jean is clearly unfamiliar with the physical demands put upon volunteers in Haiti. As aid workers there, the notion of depleting the body’s immune system through the use of illicit drugs is ludicrous. More specifically, J/P Haitian Relief Organization (aka JPHRO) has a ZERO tolerance policy for any and all illegal drugs. As the leader of this organisation, Sean Penn has not only set this policy, but adheres to it. That Mr Jean would make such a false accusation is reckless and saddening, but not surprising”.
As previously reported, Jean’s plans to stand in Haiti’s upcoming presidential elections needed court approval because the former Fugee does not pass requirements in the country’s constitution regarding presidential candidates, mainly regarding citizenship and being resident in Haiti for five years before running. When the relevant court failed to give its approval, Jean vowed to appeal. It was then pointed out by Samuel Pierre of the Haitian Electoral Council’s legal department that, because the council was part of the country’s highest court, there was no option to appeal the decision.
Jean instead launched an attack on the outgoing president Rene Preval and the Electoral Council in song. And they still didn’t let him stand. What’s the world coming to?
