An Israeli promoter for the event that dancehall artist Charly Black was prevented from attending earlier this month due to racial profiling has committed suicide.
On Sunday, news broke that the unidentified party promoter took his own life as graphic details were shared online. While it is unclear if there is a nexus between his suicide and the flopped concert, some persons online are convinced that the promoter might have been under immense pressure after his headlining act, Charly Black, was prevented from attending the event.
Earlier this month, Black’s manager Julian Jones-Griffith told the Jamaica Star that the diamond-selling dancehall entertainer was allegedly racially profiled by security personnel at the Newark Airport in New Jersey. As a result of the actions of security personnel, they were prevented from boarding the plane and missed the concert.
Charly Black and his team were the only black persons on the flight, and they were subjected to an unjustified search and told they could not take their wallets and mobile phones onboard the flight to Israel on May 3.
The flight was scheduled to transit through New Jersey to reach Israel at 2 p.m. on May 4, but that never happened. The “Party Animal” artist claimed that it was racism behind the alleged security exercise.
“I have experienced racial profiling before while in Europe but it was never anything close to this. And I’ve never had to deal with this while flying or in an airport at no time in my life or in no other country from any airline or security personnel,” he added.
The event that he missed was the Charly Black Live show which was also part of the country’s 2022 Independence Festival celebrations.
A member of Black’s team confirmed that this was the event that the artist missed and that the promoter might have been under pressure as fans’ money amounting to millions of dollars was spent, and they wanted back a refund.
He added that this is the first time they have worked with this particular promoter as Charly has been a regular promoter to the country since 2019, when he had sold-out shows.
“It’s really tragic,” the team member told Urban Islandz as he shared condolences for the family of the promoter and friends.
