TTelecommunications giant Verizon has dropped hip-hop singer Akon like a hot potato following reports of simulated sex with a Trinidadian teen. "This week the partnership ended," Verizon told FOX News in a statement over the weekend. "We have music services on our cell phone service and we were promoting him as one of the artists. The other part of the sponsorship was the Gwen Stephanie tour, of which he was an opening act. We are no longer sponsoring the tour." The announcement comes as outrage over the Senegalese singer's action in Trinidad on April 12th continues to mount after a video capturing the act was uploaded to You Tube. Many critics have now dubbed the action simulated rape. The video showed the singer dry humping a teen, later identified as Danah Alleyne, the daughter of a preacher man, on stage during a live appearance at Club Zen in Port-of-Spain. The sexually simulated dance number showed Akon vigorously grinding the teen on different areas of the stage to a soca rhythmic version of his song, 'Don't Matter."
The teen has admitted to being allowed into the Club despite being underage and said she was part of an impromptu dance competition announced by the singer. The competition, featuring seven girls, was announced and a trip to Africa was offered as the Prize, she told the Trinidad Express. But after she won the contest, she said Akon announced the Africa prize was really him. She said he proceeded to start dancing with her and she danced back but then things got out of control. "I got carried away, I started to dance as well but I never thought it was going to be like that. I was shocked, my head was hitting the floor," the Express quoted her as saying. Trinidad PM Patrick Manning has called on authorities to investigate the matter to the fullest, according to the Trinidad media reports, adding that it is not the first time that foreign artists had overstepped their boundaries. "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," said the PM. Johnny Soong, owner of the Zen nightclub, has said the club has a strict 18-year-old only policy and Alleyne must have "gotten through the cracks." On chatrooms, many blasted the teen as no "innocent" and insisted she looks much older than her 15 years, espeically dressed provacatiively with a top that left little to the imagination. Akon's representatives have remained mum on the issue but the label has reportedly threatened YouTube with copyright infringement and the outrageous video has been pulled. Readers can, however, see the action at:. source: Technorati Cosmos: related links jamaica reggae soca hiphop dancehall caribbean party pop gossip rumours
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