Dominica World Creole Music Fest Controversy: Vybz Kartel booked 10 years after Tommy Lee’s arrest

Dominica: It has been more than a decade since Jamaican dancehall artist Tommy Lee Sparta was arrested and detained upon landing in Dominica in 2014. However, in a surprising twist, his musical mentor, Vybz Kartel is now slated to headline Day 2 of the 2025 World Creole Music Festival which is one of the region’s biggest annual entertainment events. 

The booking has stirred controversy across the Caribbean with promoters arguing that Dominica has not always been so welcoming to Jamaican artists, especially someone like Kartel who carries a reported $US 1.3-million-dollar price tag and spent the last 13 years in jail for murder. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dominica Festivals (@dominica.festivals)

In 2014, Tommy Lee, also known as, Leroy Russell, was scheduled to perform at the Arbeedee Cinema in Portsmouth during Dominica’s Carnival season. The show was organised by Dominican attorney and music promoter Cabral Douglas who is now recalling what he described as a ‘fateful day’ after a decade.  

"It was carnival season at the time in Dominica, and I thought it would be fun to bring in a foreign artist from Jamaica, and at that time, Tommy Lee was the hottest artist on the road, so I booked him,” Douglas said. However, he said what followed was unexpected and controversial.  

"I ended up chartering a flight for him and his entourage to land in Dominica on the afternoon of the show.  So, I had made arrangements to collect them at the airport and take them to their hotel suite, but when I arrived at the airport, I noticed the plane had landed, but no passengers had disembarked,” Douglas recalled. 

He continued to say that when he went inside the terminal building to check to see what was causing the delay, he saw Tommy Lee and his team all in handcuffs being led into a police van.  

“They had no criminal records, yet they were arrested without charge, denied food and water, and held overnight in a cold, dark cell,” added Douglas.  

While describing the moment, Cabral Douglas said, “It was just horrifying, the most blatant human right violation I had ever witnessed live.” He also said that he never received an explanation for such gruesome and unjustified brutality which was undertaken by the police at that time. 

He emphasised that while trying to secure food, water, and towels for the group, a protest erupted outside the police station in Marigot after word of the detention spread and locals sang Tommy Lee's songs in solidarity while calling for his immediate release. 

"The concert had to be cancelled, and the financial loss was significant. Worse, Tommy Lee had to be rushed to hospital due to blood clots caused by sleeping on a concrete floor. It was inhumane," he further said. 

The following day, Tommy Lee and his team were deported without explanation, claimed Douglas.  

He further called for answers noting that in 2025, Vybz Kartel, who is widely considered Tommy Lee’s mentor and one of dancehall’s most influential artists is booked to headline Dominica’s signature World Creole Music Festival, despite spending over a decade in prison for a murder conviction recently overturned by the UK Privy Council.  

“To this day, I’ve received no explanation or compensation,” Douglas said. “But watching them roll out the red carpet for Kartel while his musical offspring was treated like a criminal is a reminder of how quickly tides can turn.” 

As the music festival, which is scheduled to take place from October 24-26 approaches, music enthusiasts are expressing their excitement while promoters like Douglas are recalling the controversy.