Various media outlets, including Fox News, E! Online and Trinidad Express are reporting that Verizon Wireless has ended the relationship between themselves and RnB crooner Akon. Reports suggest it is due to his recent performance at Zen in Trinidad with 15 year old Danah/Deena Alleyne.
The Corporate Strategy and Policy Manager for Verizon Wireless, Jim Gerace, confirmed that the ties have been cut with the award winning Akon. "We didn't provide a statement or have one. I simply told Fox that we decided this week to stop sponsoring Akon. That's all we have to say about it," Gerace said."We did not give them (Fox) a reason. We made the decision this week is all we are saying." According to a Fox News report, the partnership was ended because of Akon's simulated sex dance with 15-year-old Danah Alleyne at the Zen nightclub in Port of Spain.
"This week the partnership ended," Fox News reported Verizon as saying of the decision. "We have music services on our cellphone service and we were promoting him as one of the artists. The other part of the sponsorship was the Gwen Stefani tour, of which he was an opening act. We are no longer sponsoring the tour."
"I was shocked when Akon pulled me to dance," said Danah in a public apology last month. "I did not know what to do and with the crowd cheering and stuff I guess I got a little carried away. But there was nothing I could have done about it. I was in a state of real shock. I am so sorry for everything. I am sorry for disappointing my parents and my brother Ian, who is a public figure in his portfolio as the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Crime Watch. I will learn from this experience for sure."
Born in St. Louis, Akon is the son of Senegalese parents. He served a total of five years in prison. In late 2005, his manager Robert Montanez was killed in a drive-by shooting. Akon was in the car and was shot in the shoulder, however he made a full recovery. He professes to be a Muslim and a believer and practitioner of polygamy.
