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CCT suspends future advertising with VINO for controversial cartoon

At least one company has suspended advertising with local news website Virgin Islands News Online (VINO), who has been under heavy public criticism for publishing a cartoon of Governor Augustus Jaspert kneeling on the neck of radio talkshow host and government consultant Claude Skelton Cline.

Local telecommunications provider Caribbean Cellular Telephone (CCT) made the move amid calls from the public for advertisers to boycott the Julian Willock-owned website.

In a statement published on its official Facebook page on Monday, June 15, management of CCT said it “explicitly condemns the cartoon”.

“This tasteless reenactment of the murder of Mr George Floyd within a local political context is both offensive and inappropriate. We join the many voices in the British Virgin Islands community who have already spoken out against this offensive cartoon and we demand that Virgin Islands News Online immediately retract this offensive cartoon and issue an official apology,” CCT said.

It added: “CCT will suspend all future advertising with Virgin Islands News Online until this offensive cartoon is retracted and we call upon all other advertisers to make a similar pledge. There is simply no place in our beautiful British Virgin Islands community for this kind of callous disrespect of human dignity.”

Up to the time of publication of this article, the new site has neither apologised or removed the cartoon.

It has, however, fired back at persons who have criticised its cartoon, which directly relates to Skelton Cline’s recent statement that Governor Jaspert has his figurative knees on the necks of Virgin Islanders.

VINO has also denied having any racist intentions.

READ: VINO’s cartoon and Skelton Cline’s remarks are ‘grossly offensive’

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28 Comments

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  1. Parent says:

    WOW! This serious!

    Like 7
    Dislike 2
    • Boycott that site says:

      We all need to boycott that news site. It panders in political propaganda and is beyond reasonable. It reminds me of that local street paper called Mad news.

    • Conflict of Interest says:

      I suspect that numerous businesses have stopped advertising with BVI News due to the weekly Saturday morning racist rant that appears here.

  2. Juicy Fruit says:

    WEll VINO appears to be the top fearless news website in the BVI, they should do the right thing and set and example. But also the pastor is at fault too. I’ve been here for just 1 year and the power of VINO compared to the others the website, VINO has more reach and reports more news.

    Like 6
    Dislike 10
  3. Smh says:

    Most people who want you to stop advertise don’t even use your service keep digging a hole to please people that’s why local companies are underdogs

    Like 2
    Dislike 5
  4. Well done CCT says:

    This is a very important and strong statement to make towards Willock and his friends

    Like 17
    Dislike 3
  5. Customer says:

    Wish CCT put this kinda energy into better service for our bucks!! When we customers are to march and protest on the telecom industry in the country?

    Like 20
    Dislike 8
  6. for the moment says:

    It’s a good move, but they will probably only suspend their ads for a short while and go back to them

    Like 8
    Dislike 1
  7. Patrick says:

    The governor will just laugh in them face when his contract is up. This phone company hurt who else hurt. Imagine 400 years of hurt. Man cct weak weak weak. Glad to know vino got under them skin. Feel 400 years of oppression. A little taste and it stings. The only thing the cartoons back then were real murder, rape and torture of black people.

    Like 6
    Dislike 10
    • @ Patrick says:

      Pure politics: nothing in the advert- could be any two people. Just a set of NDPs and their expat supporters trying to stir up sh-t- VIP winning a second term in any event so they will have another 6 years to stir

  8. Huh says:

    CCT just finding a way to cut cost in the coronavirus stress. Bout they cutting vino strupes. That phone company too thin skin to work for.

    Like 4
    Dislike 7
  9. Anonymous says:

    Unnecessary, unfocused and unproductive within the larger human scheme. Wonder what if customers start pulling their support.

    Like 7
    Dislike 3
  10. Local says:

    If you can’t afford to anymore just say don’t look for an excuse over a cartoon drawing C-T to small minded , the only company after the curfew was lifted cut customers right away customers should have gotten the message and move to Digicel or flow w—less for a local company shame.

    Like 5
    Dislike 6
  11. Funny says:

    So much raw emotions over a cartoon…wonder why we as black folks pretends when deep down inside we know the truth.

    We are still under colonial rule…NOTHING has changed.

    Like 11
    Dislike 5
    • Facts says:

      You speak well. VINO may be “wrong” to have been too blunt. But as far as all the facts are concerned, the cartoon is a perfect description of the role played by the governor on the island.
      Feel free to ignore the facts, it changes nothing, we are in a post-colonial era but remain firm attached to all colonial strings.

  12. Bad news says:

    1. Revoke all of the VINO related trade licenses by the end of this month.
    2. TRC starts an investigation into the cartoon controversy today.
    3. Fire the Speaker of the House of Assembly and ban him from any government employment.

  13. Boo says:

    ..and when CCT had a monopoly and was rap– left right and center. lol

  14. Well done says:

    Well done CCT. I’m convinced that the speaker is behind this. He may not have drawn but he authorised it. Probably write that sorry excuse of an apology as well. VINO is an em———–t. We’re watching all the other business that support VINO and keeping quiet. Silence is consent.

    Like 3
    Dislike 3
  15. Grossly Offensive says:

    Grossly Offensive!!!

    What is grossly offensive is the hijacking of the global conversation on racism, police brutality and the institutions that for centuries have perpetrated the oppression of Black people, to make it about a privileged European who holds a position representing an outmoded colonial system established on a premise of European racial supremacy. I didn’t hear his or a lot of these now vocal advocates speaking out in solidarity against racial injustices that are the genesis of this conversation. I take offense that the conversation has been hijacked.

    Governor, please stop playing the victim, which you are not. Offer your voice to lend solidarity to the oppressed and speak out against global oppression. VINO (mis*****d as they are) does not represent institutions of power, but you do. Join in solidarity to dismantle those institutions that still carry the legacies of racism and oppression.

    Like 1
    Dislike 5
  16. K'Neal says:

    How does CSK’s wife, who heads the BVI CCHA’s Hospitality Committee, the purpose of which is to promote tourism, reconcile her position with that of her r**e, r****t excuse foe a husband? Just askin’

  17. You are a funny slave says:

    @Funny

    Not much has changed because you meekly accept it.

    Should we accept this vile cartoon because nothing has changed? Should the people in Ghana have continued to accepted the statue of that racist fellow, Ghandi?

    The Haitians massacred the French, and that was the beginning of the end of slavery in the America’s.

    The people of Viet Nam did not continue to accept the French or the Americans. Those brave people defeated those colonial powers.

    If the black Americans were to burn down every store that calls the police on innocent black people, only then you will see change.

    Like 3
    Dislike 3
  18. E. Steemed says:

    The site is a political tool for its owner, the speaker of the house. He has used it to manipulate public opinion ever since he returned from the US where he allegedly worked for a Republican US Senator on the communications side. Examine what Trump and the rightwing did in the US and then look at VINO – same patterns. Spice news with opinion and set fire to all the fuses that create loyalty among Us by putting blame on Them. So, eg racializing stories where it suits him (“The 32-year-old caucasian man did this bad thing”, or “the post has been given to a Vincentian after the BVIslander was ousted”) and adding just enough twist to get voting locals to react negatively, feel insulted or like they are under assault.
    Replace voting BVIslanders with white rural Americans and you see the Republican/Fox template.
    The site also employs ‘reporters’ who live o——, report on the BVI from abroad and have never even been to the –.
    Allegedly, the owner also writes, edits and comments on many of the stories, although he regularly denies it even when it is completely transparent such as stories referring to him as “the esteemed”.
    In short, VINO is not a news site, it does not report news for the good of the community. It is a stepping stone in one man’s political career-building. He’s starting from the bottom, like Fox News, by creating a completely alternative reality with ultra loyal believers – and it is all designed, and has always been designed, to benefit him.

    Like 4
    Dislike 4
  19. hey says:

    CCT you kneeling on our necks too, with poor internet service and outrageous prices.

  20. Facts says:

    You speak well. VINO may be “wrong” to have been too blunt. But as far as all the facts are concerned, the cartoon is a perfect description of the role played by the governor on the island.
    Feel free to ignore the facts, it changes nothing, we are in a post-colonial era but remain firm attached to all colonial strings.

    Like 1
    Dislike 3
  21. down2earth says:

    It is truly distasteful. Well done CCT!

    Like 1
    Dislike 3
  22. BVIlander says:

    Well done CCT, thank you for taking a stand. That news site constantly and knowingly publishes l–s, and hared. Please stop going there for news so that they can finally close their doors. I will not support any businesses that advertise with them and no self respecting BVIlander should support those businesses either. Please keep the names of their advertisers published so that we know to stay clear!

  23. Wiseman says:

    C– put da same energy into ur crappy service, give us ur customers da service we are paying for oh and stop treat ur employees like s**t yes heard bout that too!!!!!! Customers need to leave ayo high and dry too just like wa we doing VINO!!!!!!!

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