Akon Apologizes -- I Didn't Know She Was Underage

76. Seems to me that AGE wasn't so much the problem as the FAKE GANG RAPE was. And I don't care if the little girl was into it-- she's probably just as messed up as he is in the head for thinking it's "fun"- who knows what could have happened in her past that made her think so little of herself. The point was, it was plain wrong and for him to "apologize" because of her age, not what he did, was rather pointless-- and you can tell he missed the issue entirely. I can only hope he fades back into oblivion as I was happier not knowing who he was at all.

Posted at 10:26AM on May 10th 2007 by Christi

77. When this video first aired on you tube there was no caption underneath saying how old this girl was. It had to be her parents who wanted the media to know. 15 huh, she should not have been admitted in the club. So the club is partially respnsible as well. From what I saw she was giving it up as good as she was getting it. Indecent yes it was but do not put the total blame on Akon! Start your way from the top and work your way down.

Posted at 11:24AM on May 10th 2007 by Tazzygirl6

78. FIRST OFF, THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE COMMENTING & SAYING THAT IT WAS AKON'S FAULT..YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW THE WHOLE STORY..FIRST OFF,NONE OF YOU KNOW ABOUT THE CUSTOMS FROM THE CARIBBEAN..SO LET ME TELL YOU...IN PLACES LIKE TRINIDAD & GUYANA WHAT HE WAS DOING IS CALLED WINING...AS IN DANCING..IT'S FROM A FORM OF MUSIC CALLED SOCA..2ND OFF, IT'S NOT AKON'S FAULT THAT THIS GIRL WAS LET INTO THE CLUB BECAUSE IT WAS AN OVER THE 18 EVENT..TO YOU, IT MIGHT LOOK AS IF HE'S VIOLATING THE GIRL OR WHATEVER BUT THAT'S DANCING IN OUR CULTURE..SO GET IT STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU MAKE COMMENTS ABOUT SOMETHING THAT YOU DON'T KNOW..NOT ONLY THAT..THE GIRL'S FATHER SAID THAT SHE LIED ABOUT WHERE SHE WAS GOING, SHE SAID SHE WAS GOING TO THE STORE TO BUY BREAD BUT INSTEAD SHE GOT AWAY & WENT TO THE CLUB..IT'S UNFORTUNATE THAT AKON IS BEING ACCUSED OF WRONG DOING BECAUSE HE DID NOT KNOW HOW OLD THE GIRL WAS..PEOPLE NEED TO REMEMBER, EVERY COUNTRY HAS DIFFERENT CUSTOMS...IT MIGHT SEEM WEIRD TO OTHER PEOPLE, BUT IT'S NOT CONSIDERED THAT WAY IN TRINIDAD..

Posted at 11:56AM on May 10th 2007 by _aLL3y3zPonM3_

79. So .. posting #78 .... what you're saying is that this is a "cultural" diversity issue. Dry humping girls on stage is a Trinidadian tradition. Now I get it. That changes everything. What a proud culture and what a proud people. You all are so COOL in Trinidad. And if it's not a problem in your wonderful country, why is there an "investigation" .. is it because we prudish Americans are mortified and it may hurt tourism? And .. I supposed if the girl lied to get into the club and she was somehow murdered there, it would have been her fault and the club's as well? That's right, blame the victim. I booking my next vacation to Trinidad today!

Posted at 1:44PM on May 10th 2007 by WTFMF

80. Ok, so Akon is your everyday, typical, male sex-driven maniac. Welcome to the human population!

As for the club, YES it was their responsibility to ask for ID from everyone. The girl is nothing more than a little whore in the making.

Question...did the parents know she was going to an over 18 club? Bet not! I know where my kids are at all times, and if one were at such a club underage...I'd do what my father did to me at 15 yrs old. GO THERE MYSELF AND DRAG MY KID OUT!!! THAT is what my dad did when he suspected I was doing that. Followed me, waited about 20 minutes, informed the men at the front he was going in to get his underage daughter and PLEASE call the police if you have a problem with it (they didn't stop him).

I was embarrassed and lost car privilages until I could buy my own car!!! Yup, never did that again. Really.

This is nothing more than poor raising from both Akon and the girl's parents. It's a fact that that is that.

Sevin

Posted at 2:43PM on May 11th 2007 by Sevinufnine

81. He totally misses the point, as apparently, do some of his fans .The girl's age is only PART of the problem. The other part is thathe's a disgusting, misogynistic (look it up) pig. His f'd up displayon stage was wrong on so many levels. He's a dumb animal, and beingrich and selling his "crap rap" to losers doesn't make him cool orright.

Posted at 1:45PM on May 10th 2007 by WTFMF

82. I Think it Is The Clubs Fault Not Akons
AKON SAID NO UNDER 18 PEOPLE
SO THE CLUB SHOULD BE PUNISHED

Posted at 5:15PM on May 11th 2007 by RajSukulRulez

83. I know a lot of Trinidadians. Yes, their dances are sexual and look like "dirty dancing" to Americans. No, their dances are NOT violent like Akon's. They are just having fun and not trying to hurt anybody. They are very nice people.

Why do Americans call for parents all the time? Haven't you got your country set up so that nobody can discipline the kids? Not parents, principals, teachers, not even policemen can say a darn thing to them without some lawsuit. You have made your bed, now sleep in it.

Posted at 2:03PM on May 10th 2007 by candleinthe wind

84. TO #80..I BELIEVE YOU WERE DIRECTING YOUR COMMENT TO ME & NOT POSTING #78..NEWAYS,GET IT STRAIGHT,I'M NOT FROM TRINIDAD, MY PARENTS ARE FROM GUYANA ACTUALLY..2ND OFF, THE ONLY REASON WHY THEY ARE INVESTIGATING THE ISSUE IS BECAUSE OF HER PARENTS MAKING A BIG STINK OUT OF IT & BECAUSE AMERICANS ARE MAKING A BIG STINK ABOUT IT..AGAIN, YOU DON'T KNOW THE WHOLE STORY SO I SUGGEST YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH..FURTHERMORE, HOW DOES MURDER COME INTO THIS?YOU REALLY ARE AN IDIOT...BUT IF THERE WAS A MURDER, THAT WOULD BE TOTALLY DIFFERENT..NOT ONLY THAT LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, PEOPLE WILL GO TO TRINIDAD REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU OR ANYONE ELSE SAYS...EVERYONE HAS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT HAPPENED..AKON, APOLOGIZED & THAT SHOULD BE IT..IF THE CLUB DID NOT LET HER IN, THEN THAT WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED IN THE FIRST PLACE..AND AGAIN, THAT IS THEIR CULTURE SO GET YOUR DAMN FACTS STRAIGHT..WHINING IS DANCING..DON'T BE MAD BECAUSE YOUR ASS CAN'T DANCE..

Posted at 2:42PM on May 10th 2007 by _aLL3y3zPonM3_

85. AKON NEEDS TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE CLUB. I AM A TRINIDADIAN AND I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT THIS IS NOT THE FIRST AND DEFINITELY WOULD NOT BE THE LAST TIME A MINOR ENTERS THAT CLUB. SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THERE...........................

Posted at 4:12PM on May 10th 2007 by Faithful

86. Um.. why would it matter if the girl was 15 or 55? I am 30 years old and I can tell you right now that if something like that unexpectedly happened to me up on stage I would sue faster than Akon could say "MISOGYNST". gwen Stefani herself calls this concert PG. Why on earth would anyone expect, let alone want,t to be RAPED with their clothes on?!

Let's place the blame on this pig.

Posted at 7:06PM on May 10th 2007 by Akon is gross!!

87. Danah's Conduct at Zen: What's the Big Deal?
By Heru
From: Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
April 24, 2007

When this issue first surfaced on the internet and local radio talk shows, before Trinicenter's article "Akon Did Not Abuse Girl At Zen", many people were making very racist comments against Akon. Over time, following the exposure of the racism, more photos and other information surrounding this incident, many have shifted blame to club Zen for breaching the law with regards to minors in such places. Many more have shifted the blame to Danah and are being extreme in their condemnations.

If people are going on about the age of the girl, then fine. There is a law addressing minors in clubs that was breached there. But if you remove the age of the girl from the equation, then Minister Hinds and several other people have expanded on what "lewd dancing" is as an illegal act.

Some people on talk shows are attaching this issue to the controversy over the 'Manzanilla Beach After Carnival Cool Down' which involved ladies actually showing their private parts on stage and not just dancing raunchy. As I stated yesterday, if we are going down the road of charging people for raunchy dancing outside of stripping for cash (although I disagree with the law there) then the government is definitely talking about regulating regular dancing at Carnival time.

The obvious hypocrisies over this issue have been exposed. There are acts with males standing on their heads on stage and females gyrating on them; there are acts with women with their hands on the ground and butts in the air and some guys gyrating on them. There are people who regularly go on the ground and gyrate on each other at Carnival fetes.

I have even seen these behaviours in the local Country Club among many other 'prestigious' places. Generally speaking, when these incidents are reported in the papers, church people make noise and there is much talk about it, but the law generally seems to be clear on what they consider illegal.

If people are just being shown that one small clip aired by TV6 of the girl and Akon at Zen, it does not convey what transpired before and after that one clip. It paints a distorted picture. Before that clip, there is the girl among others wining, 'Dutty Wining' etc. on their own for the audience. Then there are images of the girl pulling the artist closer to her several times, actually holding his belt at one time and pulling him in.

This is all common in club shows and even Carnival fetes and nothing is wrong with that in my view, except if one is deliberately breaking the law with a minor. I will add in this particular show at Zen, there was no evidence that the star or others were paying the girl to strip or participate unwillingly in the dance. The girl herself said she just got carried away. So this incident cannot be equated with the stripping incident at Manzanilla Beach.

Also, I feel people are making too much of the girl's performance as if the girl did something so wrong and is in need of salvation as a result of that dance performance. The behaviour of that girl is typical of teens that have the resources to indulge. Many buy into the "Girls Gone Wild" type of conduct.

If the girl felt that how people are reacting to her performance is fair and she would reconsider her actions in the future, then fine. But some of the comments actually speak about the repressed sexuality of the commentators. They make a big deal at the sight of people gyrating as if there is something wrong with that.

This country was Christianized and certain immature acts, curious behaviours and even harmless normal behaviours have been criminalized as a result.

There also seems to be some special relationship between this government and Zen's owner, Johnny Soong. Not that something is wrong with that per se, but there seems to be an effort to play down the only aspect of that incident that was a clear breach of the law - the age of the girl in the club.

Mr. Hinds accused Akon of possibly committing, "...a criminal offence of lewd dancing in public", which is spurious at best, but called on Zen to more or less do better age checks in the future.

Now the Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, got involved and is calling on the public to forgive the actions of teenager Danah Alleyne. He also said: "I have taken very careful notice of this matter and the owner of Zen owes it to the public to take responsibility. I will be interfacing with Zen because that kind of thing should never be allowed to happen in this country." His statement about interfacing with Zen is even stranger. Why is he going to meet with the owner of Zen? I did not know that Zen was such an essential service that when they are clearly in breach of the law, the Prime Minister has to talk to them about possibly bucking up. This new aspect has added a strange dimension to this debate.

Posted at 6:25PM on May 10th 2007 by houdoui@hotmail.com

88. http://www.myspace.com/divatrixie

Thing is…. She is still lying… this is her myspace page and she logged in today and it says she is 19…. There are also pictures of her wearing the outfit she wore…. Daddy got mad at her and now she is saying what she can to shut him up….. she needs to stop lying!!!!!

Posted at 7:19PM on May 10th 2007 by ............

89. I blame the parents. Why was this girl in an 18 and up club and dressed like a skank anyway and plus she had piercings and tatoos at 15? Why would you let a child do this to herself. This is the parents fault for letting their daughter act his way, and the father suppose to be a priest. He is just trying to get money, and that fault is all his. I dont like Akon, but this isn't his fault and he shouldnt be sued because of the someone else's bad parenting skills.

Posted at 10:50AM on May 13th 2007 by Lesley

90. OMG. Stop saying it's "rape" when she was riding him at some point with a big smile on her face.

Posted at 2:54AM on May 11th 2007 by melanie