Entertainment

BBL Apologizes for Contravening Liberia’s Cultural Values

The Executive Director of Big Brabee Liberia (BBL), Fred Ola Ola, has apologized on behalf of his organization for broadcasting contents that are in total contravention of Liberia’s cultural values and promised to ensure that they scrupulously
follow MICAT’s guidelines going forward. He said they have been working very hard behind the scenes in order to stop some of the acts that the public has been railing against. He assured that they will continue to do more in this regard.

Mr. Ola’s apology was rendered at a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) on Monday, July 5, 2021, after they were warned by that Ministry against screening any content on their reality television show which goes against established guidelines on public decency and obscenity. They were specifically told by MICAT to immediately halt the broadcast of sexually explicit images, video and audio, or other contents that run afoul of Liberian cultural values.

It was emphasized during the discussions by Deputy Minister Daniel Gayedyu, who presided over the meeting that there is a need for the organizers of BBL’s to abide by the principles they had committed themselves to during their application process as contained in the regulations and guidelines of the government regarding such media production. He said MICAT’s rules forbid the airing of contents that are obscene and sexually explicit, appealing to prurient interest.

Adding their voices to the discussion, Deputy Ministers Boakai M. Fofana and Lance Gba-goyon notified the BBL team that they risk losing their permit to continue airing the show if they fail to conform to the national standard. “MICAT has a responsibility of protecting the public trust”, said Minister Fofana, “these guidelines should set the legal parameters for broadcast.”

BBL and MICAT have agreed that MICAT will assign an inspector to the BBL production team to ensure they are compliant.

Margaret Frank, MICAT’s Assistant Minister of Culture, and Daniel Thomas, Assistant Minister of Info Services, also attended the meeting.

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