Entertainment pundit Ola Michael has voiced his opposition to Stonebwoy's request to be crowned the VGMA Artiste of the Year for 2019. According to him, it would be unfair to change the history of the awards scheme due to the lessons that had to be learnt.
It could be recalled that the 2019 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards were disrupted by an altercation involving dancehall artistes Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy. The incident occurred when Stonebwoy was declared the Reggae Dancehall Artiste of the Year, leading to a confrontation on stage. Both artistes faced charges of offensive conduct and were granted bail.
Fast forward to the 25th Telecel Ghana Music Awards in June 2024, Stonebwoy, who was awarded the Artiste of the Year, requested that Charterhouse, the organisers of the scheme, officially declare him the winner of the 2019 Artiste of the Year award, which was not announced due to an incident at the event.
However, during his appearance on United Showbiz on June 8, 2024, Ola Michael argued that the 2019 incident and its aftermath serves as a lesson to others and should be left untouched.
"I'm disappointed in Robert Klah and Charterhouse for saying they will consider Stonebwoy’s request.
"You can't rob history, something happened in 2019. So we couldn't announce the Artiste of the Year for 2019. If we change that, the lessons to be learnt will be erased. That year should be left blank for people to see and know why the title was retained and learn from it."
On claims made by Stonebwoy that he was the intended Artiste of the Year for 2019, Ola Michael remained adamant, stating, "Every artiste has a bragging right, he can brag, and there's no problem with that. But the point is that it is history, let's keep it sacred, let's keep it sacrosanct."
He argued that the late Dancehall artiste, Ebony, who passed away and was given the Artiste of the Year title posthumously in 2018, should rather be recorded to have retained the title for 2019.
"Every year, someone is crowned as Artiste of the Year. If someone was not crowned, then it is only fair that the person with the crown retains it.
"We couldn't announce the Artiste of the Year for 2019. Since no one was announced to replace Ebony, she remained the Artiste of the Year for 2019," he insisted.
Watch Ola’s submission on the show hosted by MzGee below.
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