TMZ: “Rihanna turning her Instagram account into a porn feed” – Barbados Tourism Authority awaits the new holiday arrivals!

“Another pillar of the strategy was the creation of a global brand for Barbados, using modern technology. Getting Rihanna to endorse this brand, via the visitbarbados.org website saw an increase from 2,000 to 68,000 hits per week. This association with Rihanna is also expected to take the Barbados brand into 19 million homes via social media like Facebook and Instagram.“

Barbados Tourism Minister Richard Sealy on the DLP website

Rihanna attacked on London street, bottle thrown, knee cut in fall

Attacker shouted something about Chris Brown

Rihanna was not seriously injured in a fall caused when a madman attacked her as she was leaving a London club. The man threw a full drink bottle at Rihanna after shouting something about Chris Brown. Rihanna fell trying to avoid the projectile (which by some reports did not strike her) and had to go to hospital to be treated and then released.

The attacker was not apprehended, which is a little surprising.

Further Reading

DNA India: Rihanna injured by fan

Hollywood Gossip: Rihanna injured in bottle attack!

Yahoo UK: Rihanna hit after crazed fan chucks bottle at her, slices open her leg

Photo courtesy of The Examiner: Rihanna Injured

Rihanna’s Christmas message to the world

“It is most important to be happy, eliminate negativity around you this holiday season…2013 is way too futuristic for the same weak shit.”

Rihanna

But Rihanna’s real heart and Christmas message might be found at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where the Clara Braithwaite Center Oncology and Nuclear Medicine was christened in memory of Rihanna’s grandmother with RiRi’s cheque for $1.75 million dollars.

BBC News: Rihanna donates $1.75 million to hospital

Ian Bourne: Oprah’s Rihanna interview “PR fluff, a travesty”

As staged as any Broadway production

For what it’s worth, we agree 100% with The Bajan Reporter. Oprah was once a serious journalist who broke important stories. She was once a skilled interviewer who was unafraid to ask ‘difficult’ questions.

It looks like those days are long gone, and gone forever…

“Where did Oprah fall down? Many areas, where to start? Since Oprah herself pointed how TIME listed “RiRi” as one of the 100 most Influential People of the Year, then knowing the Westbury girl is considered a role model  whether she likes it or not, then why did Oprah not ask her about how Nivea cancelled her huge contract?

What was Rihanna’s big idea of sporting C**T on a pendant into a Catholic Church – how could Oprah miss such a thing if she is truly concerned about women’s rights? Even “RiRi” using the same jewellery when taking photos with young fans at their parents’ ire?

If this gal from Westbury is so into God and loves her Grandmother so much, then why accept a lapdance from a midget Dominatrix which could confuse and upset the old lady – you don’t think she’d hear in this day and age of Technology, if the grandmother did not view it herself then she could have been told by a neighbour? Oprah should’ve ALSO asked why Rihanna does these extreme bad things which contrasts with “RiRi’s” Cultural Ambassador status for Barbados?”

From the Bajan Reporter story Rihanna’s So-Called Interview With Oprah – What was NOT there…

Oprah – Rihanna interview sampler released

The Nivea 100th anniversary Rihanna campaign was successful

Have a look at the above video showing part of the Nivea 100th anniversary campaign featuring Rihanna. According to the video, the campaign was successful. That tends to show that the recent falling out between Nivea and Rihanna is based upon Rihanna’s image problem, and not the short term performance of the campaign or her representation of Nivea products.

Rihanna’s managers and Rihanna herself should probably be assessing if this client loss is a blip in the plan – or indicative of something larger.

Nivea CEO trashes Rihanna contract as Barbados Tourism Authority announces her new promotional campaign

Rihanna pays strippers for oral sex show.

Can Rihanna effectively market upscale products and destinations while promoting her wild lifestyle, drugs, raunch and drunken puking in public?

by Passin thru (with Marcus)

Along with many other Bajans, Barbados Free Press sadly watched as homegirl Rihanna turned from a fresh faced young talent into a superstar queen of wild living and raunchy public displays that prove money can’t buy wisdom, class – or true happiness. Yes, I know she’s worth millions and she picked up oodles of big awards and that her music is everywhere. I like most of her music. The girl sure can sing, but sing isn’t all that this Barbados Tourism Authority spokesperson does…

The argument that the photos and scandals we’re seeing in the press are a normal young person’s missteps that only came to light because of Rihanna’s fame, doesn’t hold water when you follow her Twitter feed and realize that she herself promotes her wild lifestyle (including drugs) to her young fans.

August 8, 2012: Rihanna’s latest Twitter to the world “Typical fuck shit! Please, by all means, shock me next time…”

Rihanna actively promotes her bad behaviour through her own social media

Look, if Rihanna or any young woman wants to behave that way, that’s hardly my business in the normal course of events. I may have even been out with a few wild girls myself a few years back. I may have even looked for them as men often do.

I wouldn’t bring that type of girl home to meet the parents though. No Sir. I would have been too embarrassed to try that.

Bad girls can do what they want and it’s none of my business – except that Rihanna’s wild child life is my business when we are talking about whether her life choices might degrade her ability to properly represent Barbados.

Nivea has doubts about the value of Rihanna’s name for their purposes; should Barbados have any doubts?

Rihanna back with her abuser Chris Brown – Will Oprah tell it like it is?

“I’m going to beat the shit out of you when you get home. You wait and see.”

…Chris Brown as said to Robyn Rihanna Fenty. Detailed in court documents read on Oprah’s show, March 6, 2009

Rihanna and Oprah are in Barbados today, touring about and filming for an upcoming Oprah television spot. Oprah sent out a photo to her fans of the big O being driven around the island by RiRi. And by a strange coincidence (ha ha) the Barbados Tourism Authority announced another media campaign with Rihanna in the spotlight telling about how wonderful it is in Bim. And so it is.

Then in the middle of all that positive vibe we have the news that Rihanna and Chris Brown are back together as a couple.

… and that JAY-Z has given Rihanna and Chris Brown’s relationship the seal of approval.

A little advice from Auntie Moses for all the girls including Rihanna who appears to have left her self-worth somewhere else in her travels…

“He beat you once, he beat you again. Doan fool yourself about ‘sorry’.”

“Rihanna & Chris Brown: A Violent Mix

The court also heard that, as is often the case in these couples battles, there had been previous incidents of violence by both Brown and Rihanna. The sentencing report also confirmed the rumours about Chris Brown smashing the windows and mirrors of Rihanna’s Land Rover when they were in Barbados as a couple.

Hopefully both of them will have learned something from their mutually-destructive attraction for each other. The big life lesson is this: at the first sign of abuse – whether physical or verbal – terminate the relationship immediately.

It’s just not worth it to try and save a relationship that has already deteriorated to that point. At the first hint of abuse, I’m outta there permanently…”

… from BFP’s August 26, 2009 article Chris Brown Sentenced To Probation In Rihanna Assault – Court Reveals Ongoing Assaults By Both, Confirms Barbados Land Rover Damage Rumour

Oprah Winfrey to interview Rihanna in Barbados. Which Barbados will Oprah portray?

Which agendas are at work? What will the end product be?

A friend of mine was once interviewed by a television reporter about a problem in the community. When he saw the broadcast he was both astonished and angry because the message he communicated had been corrupted and spoiled by an editor, he believes deliberately, to make him less convincing and less credible with the audience. The tv station didn’t just leave out parts of his answers, they inserted his answer from one question to appear as if he was answering another question. The whole interview, the whole news report, became an agenda-driven lie and was my friend’s first-hand education in television fakery.

That was an extreme example of the power of editing visual images to mislead, but it reminds us that everything we see on television is carefully crafted, and selectively pieced together to suit a purpose, and at best only conveys the journalist’s perspective on the subject. When we see something on television we can easily allow ourselves to think that we’ve seen the truth, when we’ve only seen little pieces selected by someone else.

Oprah is coming to Barbados to interview Rihanna – or perhaps she’s already been. You can bet that Oprah’s staff have already decided the big messages of the show – and Rihanna hasn’t even opened her mouth yet. The preview above gives a clue that Oprah’s intent is to feature some of Barbados ‘where it all began’ for Rihanna. I guess that means the audience won’t just be seeing the Platinum Coast. (Come on up to Grape Hall, Oprah, and we’ll put on some grill fish that can’t be beat.)

No doubt the Barbados Tourism Authority is involved somehow, and if they aren’t already they should be working overtime to make sure that Oprah and her staff get the best of the best service and support we can manage. Is the government springing for staff rooms at the Hilton? We own the place, don’t we?

Subjects that interest Oprah

Victoria Rowell to replace pot-smoking Rihanna for Barbados Tourism Authority spokesperson? Victoria WHO?

“Rihanna knows she’s the BTA spokesperson, so what’s with the drugs in public?”

Dear Barbados Free Press,

Today we are treated in the news to dueling stories about the outgoing and incoming spokesgirls for the Barbados Tourism Authority.

Barbados Ambassador Rihanna is at it again, having been photographed in Barbados smoking an apparent ‘blunt’. Looks like a blunt to me. (For the unfamiliar, a ‘blunt’ is a hollowed-out cigarello filled with some choice weed of which we have plenty in B’town.) I know the girl was here for her grandmother’s funeral and I respect that, and I don’t think that smoking some herb will do any harm to a person.

But.

The girl is supposed to be the BTA spokesperson and we’re paying her who knows how much to represent the very best face for this island. She knows she’s being photographed. She knows she’s the BTA spokesperson, so what’s with the drugs in public? This latest photo follows similar photos elsewhere (Hawaii ?) and Rihanna’s Tweets about smoking grass. The ‘best by’ expiry date is long past for the girl as the BTA spokesperson, know what I mean? Time to find a replacement.

Meet Rihanna’s BTA replacement… WHO?

Truth be told I never lived under no rock for the past twenty years. I have a job. I have friends, I watch CBC and download torrents of first run Hollywood movies from Pirate’s Bay. I read the newspapers and kill a paperback a month while sitting on the toilet, know what I mean?

I never heard of no Victoria Rowell. I heard of the soap opera The Young and The Restless, but I never watched it. I never heard of the character ‘Drucilla Winters’ or Victoria Rowell, the actress who plays her. I know Rowell plays ‘Drucilla Winters’ because I read it in the Barbados Advocate. In the Nation they have a photo of Rowell with two other women and one man and they have to identify her by saying “second right“. Man, how famous is you when the photo has to say “second right”?

It looks like the BTA traded Rihanna for Victoria Rowell (WHO?) and Victoria was in the news touring Bim and saying nice things about a place she’s obviously never been before.

How much are we paying for all this? I just can’t take it anymore. The pain is too much!

Pass that blunt, RiRi. I need to breathe deep.

Junior Tomas, Crab Hill

Nation News Rihanna photo mistake made me smile

Visitors to The Nation’s website earlier today were greeted with a photo that seems to be captioned about this weekend’s weather.

Yup, the photo of a smiling Rihanna looking prettier and more feminine than we’ve seen her in a long time proclaimed “Prepare for a wet weekend.”

Indeed. 

It looks like a copy editor made a wee mistake and labelled the wrong photo. That’s probably the editor’s story and if I were him, I’d stick with it!

I had to laugh at the error, but then I felt a little sad. You know, this photo reminds me of the Rihanna that we knew only a few years ago although it seems like such a long time past. Look at her: fresh, pretty – no raunchy dress or moves, no over the top hair, no tweeting photos of strippers having oral sex (yes, that was the latest) – just a pretty girl in a nice dress. I wonder, am I the only one who smiled at the photo, and then felt a little sad?

Cliverton

UK Commons Speaker’s wife to make Barbados speech with or without clothes?

click photo for larger

Conflict of Interest scandal surrounds Sally Bercow’s Barbados trip.

Barbados Anti-Gay buggery laws also focus of attention.

“I would end up sometimes at a bar and someone would send a drink over, and I’d think, ‘Why not?’ and we’d go home together. I liked the excitement of not knowing how a night was going to end.”

Sally Bercow, Labour Party approved candidate and wife of UK Commons Speaker John Bercow at Mizzo

Folks, this should be fun… and the story is already garnering some great publicity for Barbados.

If somebody at the Barbados Tourism Authority could take credit for the growing scandal surrounding Mrs. Bercow’s upcoming speaking engagement at the Bridgetown Hilton, I’m sure they would jump at the opportunity. We won’t say “You can’t buy publicity like this”, because you can and Barbados buys stories all the time as part of the BTA’s marketing efforts.

… But this one wasn’t bought. It’s the perfect storm and hopefully the BTA will jump in to make the best of it. After all, it’s free publicity!

The BTA won’t be able to take credit for Sally Bercow because she’s already a legend in the Brit papers after ‘scandalizing Parliament’ by appearing on the TV show Big Brother and posing nearly naked in front of Parliament.

Oh yes… she also told the Brit public what it is like to have sex in the Speaker’s bed under Big Ben (apparently very exciting!), and also told about her binge drinking, drug use and series of one night stands with… well, anybody. Even Gordon Brown succumbed to her, ah, assets, when the Queen gave here Diamond Jubilee Year address to Parliament, Mr. Brown seemed to be more interested in Sally’s “generous cleavage”. Shades of Owen Arthur and Rihanna!

Well, you know how it is… when the pretty little poodle shakes that thing, all the puppies on the block follow her around.

Caricom: Rihanna shortchanging Barbados on taxes, revenues, jobs

Caribbean Journal is reporting that Adrian Augier, co-chair of the CARICOM Regional Task Force on Cultural Industries, is on the record saying that it’s time Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean took steps to capitalise on citizens who make the big time on the world stage.

Augier noted that Rihanna is not registered with the Barbados Copyright Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, that she is a billion dollar business that keeps 15,000 people employed (?!), but little of the benefits flow to Barbados.

Although Rihanna is the biggest of the Caribbean artistes, there are others in the same position.

Does Rihanna pay tax on the monies Barbados pays her to represent our tourism industry?

Caribbean Journal raises issues about where the responsibilities of citizenship and birthright begin and end when Bajans ‘strike it rich’. It would be interesting to know how much revenues Rihanna has brought to Barbados. We’re paying her to be our tourism ‘spokesperson’ but does she still have residency in Barbados? What is the law about taxes and business taxes for Bajans who make millions outside the country? (Never had to consider that issue, myself!)

Head over to Caribbean Journal for a short news article that will make you think and might even make you upset…

Caribbean Journal: Caribbean Could Derive “Significant Revenue” from Artists like Rihanna

Barbados Tourism spokesperson Rihanna Tweets she’s smoking marijuana

Press reports Rihanna looked ‘relaxed’… No kidding!

‘Got my kush rolled and glass full!’

Our multi-million dollar Barbados Tourism Authority spokesperson just announced to the world that she’s smoking ganga in Hawaii where it’s not legal but the law looks the other way.

In a series of obviously “set-up candid” photos published in the Daily Mail, Bim’s wild child is smoking what appears to be a small cigar. At least it looks like a cigar and I don’t see any seeds popping when she downloads a lungful.     (Cliverton here. I guess that tells you something ’bout me.)

If it looks like a small cigar, how do we know that Rihanna is smoking grass then? Easy… she told the world on Twitter!

So it’s all a big staged event. Rihanna “gets caught” smoking ‘erb and the world talks about her for 48 hours. Like whips, dwarf porn stars and private parts hanging out in the breeze it’s all planned for maximum shock value and maximum publicity.

Good for Rihanna. Hope she makes lots of money ’cause that’s obviously very important to the girl. I don’t have a daughter and I’ve ruined several daughters of other men myself so what do I care? Smoke away, baby. Make money and have a ball! None of my business.

Except… Rihanna represents Barbados Tourism Authority. She signed a multi-million dollar, multi-year deal to publicize Barbados Tourism. She’s a big name – maybe the biggest name – in music these days so the DLP Government decided they wanted a piece of the action.

Oh… did I mention that she’s also our Youth Ambassador? Presumably that means she’s a great example for our youth and to show the world what our youth is all about.

Barbados is holding a security conference next week because drugs are endemic in the region and closely linked with violence and other crimes… but the BTA spokesperson Rihanna says “Got my kush rolled…”

Does anybody else see a problem with this or am I the only person?

Am I a hypocrite? I don’t know… you tell me. Sure I’ve smoked a little ‘erb in my life and unlike President Clinton, I did inhale. Deeply. I may have even been supercharged a few times and if you don’t know what that is I congratulate you upon your good character. It also proves that you never met the girl we used to call ‘Wild Thing’ but that’s another story for another day.

That’s me. I also drink rum to excess and as I said before I’ve ruined more daughters than anyone else I know.

I am who I am… but then again, I’m not paid millions to be a public spokesperson for the Barbados Tourism Authority.

Tell you one thing: if Prime Minister Stuart wants to pay me the same money as Rihanna, I’ll quit all my bad habits right now and I guarantee that nobody will photograph me smoking dope when I’m supposed to be the BTA spokesperson.

Now where the ‘ell be that bottle of Mount Gay dark?

Barbados Youth Ambassador Rihanna Tweets: “Foot out dat bitch, ride dat shit like a skateboard!!!”

Why yes, Rihanna is our Ambassador for Youth and Culture and our official Barbados Tourism Authority spokesperson. Why do you ask?

Our BTA paid her big bucks. We Bajans don’t care how low it goes as long as Rihanna says “Barbados” at least every once for every time she says “Shit, Fuck, Cunt, Bitch”. (Dear readers: Are you offended because we published Rihanna’s words, or because she said them?)

And this is supposed to promote Barbados as an upscale tourism destination in what way?

Your Barbados Tourism Authority: out of ideas, out of results and still sucking money like performance measurement and return on investment don’t exist.

“Foot out dat bitch, ride dat shit like a skateboard!!! Thank u to my G’z at RocNation baby!” Riri tweeted…

… from AceShowBiz.com Rihanna Receives a Black Wrangler From Roc Nation

Barbados Tourism needs more than hype

Worth repeating…

“This is again more management of our tourism assets by hype, rather than by focusing on the quality of the tourism assets themselves. Barbados needs the hype, but we desperately need tourism management and a government that realize our product is falling short of what it used to be. Our tourism industry long ago forgot that it is better to have repeat customers who return year after year for the quality, than to spend our resources continually chasing new business for one trip to Barbados.”

BFP’s Nevermind Kurt talks about Rihanna as Tourism Ambassador

Barbados Government paid Rihanna £1.25 million for concert. Good value or outrageous?

Updated: December 9, 2011

Bajans were told Rihanna was performing “for free”

Thanks to an old friend for referring us back to an August 11, 2011 opinion piece in The Nation. Luigi Marshall – Kudos for making Rihanna show happen.

Mr. Marshall had very positive things to say about the Rihanna concert and we recommend that our readers have a look. One piece of info though: Mr. Marshall repeats the information given at the time that Rihanna was doing the show “for free”. According to the latest revelations, that might not have been true.

But whether Rihanna performed for free or not, as Nevermind Kurt says in his piece below, it is difficult to quantify the benefits from the Rihanna – Barbados association. Mr. Marshall falls into the trap of speculating what the numbers might have been. He pulls them right out of the air and then waves them around to illustrate how much money Bajans made because of the concert. Did 4,000 people arrive on the island just for the concert? I suppose they could have. How did they get here? They didn’t all fly into Grantley Adams in the two days prior to the concert, that’s for sure!

Could it be true that many or even most of the visitors who attended the concert were already here or planned to be here concert or not? I suppose that someone at the BTA has the ability to answer the questions about benefits and costs of the Rihanna concert. I wonder why the BTA hasn’t made a statement about that and backed it up with numbers?

The Daily Star is now repeating that Rihanna was paid for her concert and that she’ll be doing a New Year’s gig at Sandy Lane…

“The government paid Rihanna £1.25million to perform at Barbados Carnival in August as she is obviously their biggest export.

“Everyone is very excited to hear that she’ll be back again so soon and plenty of the islanders are hoping to catch a glimpse of her in town even if they can’t get into the party.”

… from The Daily Star’s Rihanna to sing for Simon Cowell

That’s  £1.25 million for Rihanna… PLUS everything else

by Nevermind Kurt

Music industry sources say that our government paid Bajan Sex Queen Rihanna £1.25 million to appear at her toned-down Kensington Oval concert last August. That’s about US$2.5 million dollars – or 5 million Bajan dollars – and it doesn’t count the venue expenses and everything else associated with the concert. The US$2.5 million dollars is just the pocket change for Rihanna and her entourage.

US$2.5 million dollars buys a whole lotta cutters and beer down at Marcia’s Place in Oistins!

But maybe US$2.5 million dollars was a good price for the Rihanna show. What do I know? So if we paid US$2.5 million of public funds to Rihanna, and the ticket sales were X number of tickets @ an average of X $ per bottom, maybe our overall cost wasn’t US$2.5 million. Or maybe not…

Did the Rihanna concert revenue go to repaying the government ‘investment’? Without Freedom of Information laws we taxpayers will never know.

The government is going to say that visitor numbers were up X% as a result of the Rihanna concert, but that’s not really verifiable with any certainty. I think that the Rihanna concert and long-term engagement by the Barbados Tourism Authority is totally unquantifiable when it comes to measuring the financial benefits to Barbados vs. the cost.

The real question I have is this…

How many people will travel to Barbados as a direct result of the US$2.5 million paid to Rihanna for a single concert in Barbados?

Real doubts about Rihanna’s value to the Barbados tourism brand

As I’ve said on BFP before, most advertising is geared to younger people not because they have disposable income, but to foster brand loyalty early on. If we’re trying to attract the hoards of screaming teenagers (primarily girls) that attend Rihanna’s concerts to be lifelong Barbados fans, then Rihanna’s name associated with Barbados tourism might yield some results in twenty years.

If, however, the BTA thinks that Rihanna’s name will yield more folks from the American midwest that the BTA said we were targeting last year, the results might be disappointing.

I have the impression that Rihanna’s fame is a hoped for opportunity on the part of the Barbados Tourism Authority that might not yield real benefits in terms of increased tourism revenue.

I’d love to be proven wrong. I’d love to see that whatever we’re paying Rihanna in tax dollars is returned ten-fold.

Prime Minister Stuart: Over to you. Show me.

Rihanna as The Beverly Hillbillies – loses 2.4 million dollars overnight (American $: that’s real money!)

RiRi’s Beverly Hills mansion purchased in 2009 for 6.9 million – now listed for 4.5 million

by Nevermind Kurt

Rihanna got plucked like a chicken by the fancy Beverly Hills real estate crowd – but the truth is that she was little more than a rich teenager with zero life experience when in 2009 she bought a renovated home held out to be the latest, greatest and “worthy” of an international Star.

Too bad Rihanna didn’t have enough experience to make an informed decision on a multi-million dollar property purchase – because the home was almost 50 years old. Any fool purchasing a 50 year old home would have looked for certain indicators of problems: but not Rihanna, who got suckered. Any fool could have seen that the porch she now complains about was a natural funnel to direct rainwater into the structure of the home. (Clue: when the porch deck is two inches higher than the door it slopes towards, rain will run into the home. DUH!)

Rihanna: Another naive lottery winner

To paraphrase P.T. Barnum (or David Hannum or Hungry Joe Lewis for the purists), “There’s a sucker born every minute and woe to any young and naive lottery winner”

That is what Rihanna is when you get right down to it: a young lottery winner with no experience at money.

Rihanna fit the formula: thin, pretty, darker skin but without negro facial features to distract the mass markets. Lots of energy. Trainable. Voice? Doesn’t matter much these days because the computers take care of that whether in the studio or live on stage.

The product was trained, packaged, tweaked and mass-marketed. The product made big money for Robyn Rihanna Fenty and her creators.

To earn money is one thing. To hold onto it is another.

Rihanna launched a lawsuit last August against everybody in sight including the home builder, the former owner, her real estate agent and home inspector and probably the paperboy too.

The lawyers will be the only winners right now, but Rihanna might be a winner if she learns from this.

There is danger ahead for our young lottery winner.

If Rihanna doesn’t learn to handle money and to look after her own affairs – if she doesn’t stop hosting $20,000 dollar nights on the town – if she doesn’t realize that her income potential and popularity have a shelf life…

If she doesn’t start saving and wisely planning for the future… Rihanna might end up like so many other former superstars.

My advice to the bad girl: It doesn’t matter at all how much you make. What counts is how much you keep.

Further Reading…

The Real Estalker: Monday Morning Morsel: Rihanna

Forbes: Rihanna’s rain-soaked home for sale

Zillow real estate listing for Rihanna’s home

TMZ: Rihanna – I Got Duped Into Buying a Crappy Mansion