Jones ‘won’t criticise’ Rihanna

While Barbadian Rihanna’s S&M video has taken some heat around the world for its sexual content, Minister of Education Ronald Jones says he will not stand in harsh criticism of the pop star, based on the portrayals alone.
“I know language. I know poetry and prose, and I cannot in all consciousness stand in harsh criticisms of her . . . when we should in fact be holding her up,” he declared yesterday.
He was speaking at the Barbados National Bank’s Rightstart Speech Contest at Combermere School.
The minister said he had spent some time listening to Rihanna and watching the performance, because, “you should not speak unless you know the context in which a person speaks”. (CT)