Foota Hype facing the judge on Monday but where is the support from dancehall entertainers?
Only a handful of members of the Dancehall fraternity, namely Nikki Z, Skatta Burrell, and Stacious, have so far come out to show some sympathy to veteran selector Foota Hype, following his detention by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) organization, last week Saturday. Disc jockey Nikki Z, who is also a US military veteran, sent out prayers for the 37-year-old Cassava Piece native on Tuesday. Nikki and Foota were a part of the welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise, which trekked from Miami to Jamaica last week and ended on Saturday in Florida, where Foota was apprehended.
“Praying for my brother @footahypemusic,” she wrote beneath a video post of Foota onstage dancing during the Jamrock cruise. “Don’t care what no one says this man right here doesn’t deserve to be locked up again… I pray he is out soon,” she added.
Foota’s former arch rival, music producer Cordell’ Skatta’ Burrell, also expressed sympathy yesterday, after reading an article which appeared in The Star about the selector’s demise, and its associated negative comments which came from some of the readers.”SMH celebrating someone’s downfall does nothing for your own upliftment,” Skatta wrote.
His comment was supported by many readers, but there were also others who said they had no sympathy for the Calabar High School old boy. One reader even chases to poke fun at Skatta.
“Skatta Burrell, you have the nerves fi a comment on this when u take the man gal and mad him. Jah know youth u cold. Lol,” he posted.
His comment came apparently against the background that the Downsound Executive, who is also a Calabar old boy, and Foota Hype, were huge friends in the past, but had begun feuding back in 2013 over Dancehall artiste Ishawna, who was initially Foota’s common-law-wife and is the mother of one of his children.
Stacious too, upon reading the comments took aim at The Star for some of the things which were written in the article about Foota.
“Hope all goes well for Foota. I love Star enuh……but this article had some very unnecessary mentions in it. Seem like the writer no like him. Smh,” she wrote, punctuating her comment with a thumbs down sign.
It has not yet been confirmed why Foota was intercepted by ICE, but among the reasons given by the organization as to why a person can be detained by ICE are: if the detainee has committed a crime or multiple crimes; arrived at the border without a visa prior to formally applying for asylum or refugee status; has a deportation order on record, either pending or past due, or missed prior immigration hearing dates.
Foota Hype is to appear in an immigration court on Monday.
ICE was created through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the former U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service back in 2003.
The organization is responsible for, among other things, immigration enforcement, combating transnational crime, and preventing terrorism. The organization has more than 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel in more than 400 offices globally.
ICE’s mandate is to protect the US from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten the country’s national security and public safety. This is done through the enforcement of more than 400 federal statutes and a focus on smart immigration enforcement, preventing terrorism and combating the illegal movement of people and goods.
