Warmington’s regret
Controversial MP apologises for and withdraws expletive-charged statement on political platform
Published:Tuesday | July 1, 2025 | 12:12 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Controversial South West St Catherine Member of Parliament (MP) Everald Warmington has apologised and withdrawn a statement in which he used an expletive on a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) platform in Westmoreland on Sunday night.
Warmington, who has had a long history of making controversial remarks, seemingly surprised both his colleagues and attendees at the meeting, who all seemed befuddled as he dropped the so-called ‘F bomb’ and went on speaking, urging JLP supporters to vote for incumbent Westmoreland Central MP George Wright in the impending general election.
“Shut yuh eye and vote for Andrew Holness,” Warmington told the Labourites, seemingly intimating that a vote for George Wright was also a vote for Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness. “Don’t stay home. Put the ‘X’ beside the [expletive] bell.”
INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR
Yesterday, however, Warmington, not known for taking back his words, issued an apology and withdrew the controversial statement, acknowledging that his behaviour was inappropriate.
“I recognise that my comments on the platform yesterday were inappropriate, and I regret offending anyone with the comments I made. So, I do withdraw the comments and apologise,” his statement read.
People’s National Party (PNP) General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell, who was attending a divisional conference in Frome, Westmoreland, when Warmington made the statement, reacted with disdain, while noting that he wanted to see what disciplinary action Holness would take.
“This evening, right here in Central Westmoreland, the MP from South West St Catherine, Everald Warmington, went on to the platform and a cuss even bad word pon the platform in front of the media and everybody,” said Campbell. “I want to know what sort of disciplinary action will the prime minister of Jamaica, who said he’s asking for decency, ... take against Everald Warmington.”
According to Campbell, Holness has repeatedly said that he wants to run a campaign based on decency, so he wanted to see if the JLP leader would transform his words into action in this instance.
Up to last night, outside of Warmington’s retraction and apology, there had been no official comment from the JLP on the incident.
In addition to wanting the prime minister to act against Warmington, Campbell also called for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to treat the incident in much the same way dancehall artistes are treated when they go on stage and use expletives during performances.
“I want to go further because, when I go to a stage show and Sizzla Kalonji or any other dancehall artiste go onto the stage and they use what they refer to as indecent language, de police charge them,” said Campbell. “I am calling on the JCF to charge Everald Warmington for his behaviour on the platform.”
Several Jamaican dancehall artistes have been arrested over the years for using expletives during their performances on stage. At the 2001 dancehall night segment of Reggae Sumfest, seven top-flight acts were charged for using expletives. Those charged were Alozade, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Merciless, Baby Cham, Elephant Man and KipRich.