A damning allegation by Queen Ifrica that her father, Derrick Morgan, raped her as a young woman has led to a gender advocate calling for the authorities to review the awards the legendary Ska singer has received.
Last week, Queen Ifrica, who is known for the popular and moving song “Daddy,” revealed in an emotional Tik Tok live video that her father is the Ska legend Derrick Morgan and that he raped her decades ago.
During the video, Ifrica detailed how she never grew up knowing who her father was, and when she was a young lady, she found out about him and worked hard to build a relationship with him. She detailed how, while getting to know her father, she slept over at his home in Kingston one night because it was too late to go home to Waterhouse.
“I went to visit him when him was in Jamaica on one of him visits. Went to his house over Greenwich Farm, Nine Street, and mi deh deh with him the day and mi end up spend the whole day with him cause yuh done know… a mi father and mi a get fi know him,” Ifrica stated while adding that Morgan asked him to stay at his place when it was time for her to go home.
During the night, she said she awoke to her father penetrating her, and while raping her, he allegedly told her that his wife would not have sexual relations with him, so she would do to satisfy him.
“In a the hours me go to bed and go lay down pon the bed,” she shared. “Mi father never ready to go to bed yet, and the next thing me wake up to in a the hours is mi father a penetrate mi. Mi wake up in a the hours to mi father trying to penetrate me sexually; hold mi down in a the bed and have sex with me and tell me seh him wife nah have no sex with him, so, him affi dweet wid me.”
Queen Ifrica also hinted that the abuse has damaged her mentally and psychologically and has also caused family members and persons loyal to her father to shun and ostracize her because of the damning allegation.
The allegation shocked many fans in the music industry and Jamaican society at large to learn that such a decorated and celebrated musician committed rape/incest against his flesh and blood. She also received much support from fans who assured her that they believed her.
On Monday, gender and civil society advocate Judith Wedderburn reacted to the Jamaica Star questioning whether the government should look into the awards Morgan has received over the years as an astute Jamaican in light of the allegation by his daughter.
“We don’t know if she (Queen Ifrica) is going to press charges. She said it happened and until it goes to court and is proven, it is still an allegation. On what basis now would the committee that makes these awards withdraw the awards if it is still an allegation? I would like to think that the committee is at least having a conversation about it. They need to be talking about it and not just for this case, but for other cases that may or may not come to public attention as to what is the correct thing to do,” Wedderburn said.
Derrick Morgan has threatened to sue his daughter for defamation over the allegation in a since deleted post on his Instagram.
Morgan is also one of the most recognized Ska artists, having been conferred with the Order of Distinction in 2001, the Reggae Icon Award in 2022, and the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JARIA) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.
Wedderburn said that if the allegations are contested, the government may need to have a conversation on whether the awards would be taken away.
The gender advocate also responded to those questioning why Ifrica may be revealing now that she was raped, adding that rapes are traumatic for victims, especially when it is a man of the standing of Morgan and that he is her father and at the time the incident occurred, women were shunned from speaking of such things and devoid of support in society.
