King: Stop trying to destroy my name!

Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Hans King, said over the weekend, he was so angered by what he views as an attempt to assassinate his character, that he contemplated killing someone.{{more}}

King, calling in yesterday morning to the “AM Mayhem” radio show, hosted by Chris “Too Kool” Jones on Hot 97.1, said, over the weekend, he had contemplated killing local musician and businessman Bryan Alexander.

King, clearly very angry, expressed his disgust at comments which had been posted on Sunday, August 14, on the social networking site Facebook.

SEARCHLIGHT caught up with King on Monday afternoon and asked how did he know the comments which had been posted referred to him.

“Let’s make it clear. There is no direct reference to Hans King, … but [a named poster] said “Brian wey happen, HANDS dey pon you ha ha ha omg”.

That poster also wrote: “Or you the KING of gossip ha ha ha”.

Another poster [named] said “ You want people put Hands pan me now, I do not know who you are talking about yo hear Bryan.”

The postings also refer to an alleged incident at the Buccament Resort, when a “Big Government Official”, tried to check in “with a young boy”.

King said these references, and the fact that he was indeed at the Buccament Bay Resort the previous Friday night, leave him with no doubt that he is the person who was being referred to.

“It can’t be a coincidence that I was actually at Buccament on Friday night,” King said.

The press secretary to Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said he and a group of friends were liming at Yvette Pork City at Arnos Vale, when one member of the group got a call from a person who was playing with a band at Buccament, inviting them to come down to the resort to hear the band.

King said on arrival at the resort, one member of his group got into an argument with the security guard, which resulted in the police being called in.

He said his friend, who is the proprietor of a local hardware business, continued arguing even after the arrival of the police.

King said when his friend used obscene language, after being warned, police arrested him, and took him in their vehicle to the Layou Police station.

King said he and another friend, who is here on vacation from New York, then drove in a vehicle belonging to the friend who had been arrested, to the Layou police station.

One of the posts on Facebook said “The young man with the big official was so mad he did not get the chance to play in the hotel, he started to behave so badly that the Hotel management had to call the police, the young boy was locked up, the official followed with his vehicle, trailing the Law Officers vehicle to the station….”

“The fact that I was at Buccament, the fact that I was also at Layou Police Station that night, and all the punning on the ‘Hands’ and the ‘King’; there was no doubt they were trying to imply that I was involved in something there.

“It angered me to know that there was nothing further from the truth than what they were implying,” King said.

“I just thought it was really scandalous that people would be so deperate to go to those sort of lengths to smear somebody’s character. So I was very angry.”

King said he was in Bequia with his four children when someone informed him about what had been posted on Facebook.

He said when he read what had been posted, he said to himself, “Maybe God send me to Bequia,” as, had he been in St. Vincent, he “might have done something stupid”.

King said, a few months ago, the day before his 11-year-old son was to write the Common Entrance Exam, someone posted “all kinds of nasty stuff” about the boy, on his son’s Facebook page.

“The child was crying, the child was bawling. His mother was crying. Because of the allegations that were being made, my son did not even want to write the exam,” King said.

“When I see someone trying to do the same thing to me, it really got me angry.”

King said on Sunday evening, when he returned from Bequia, he was so angry, he couldn’t sleep. He said he called Bryan Alexander and told him among other things, that he was in his bed, “praying to God to take away thoughts of killing him”, from him.

King said yesterday morning, he was listening to Hot 97.1, as he normally does. He said someone called in to the radio station and made the same sort of allegations that had been made on Facebook. This, King said, was followed by another caller who was punning on “Hands” and “King”.

“I decided I was not going to let this thing go any further. I called in immediately after, and told “Too Kool” Chris exactly what transpired, including that I had called Bryan Alexander and told him that I had contemplated killing him, and I was praying to God to take the thought from my head.

“This is not a joke, … you don’t scandalize people’s name like that.

Do not do it. I think some stopping has to be put to this kind of stuff. To me, this is all being done in the name of politics. There is no doubt that this is politically motivated,” King stated.

“How do you move from what transpired, to making up a story like that?” he questioned.

King said Alexander told him that he was not speaking about him (King) in his posts on Facebook, it was another official he was referring to. King said Alexander told him, in time, he would say who the person is, but he doesn’t yet have all the evidence.

“A lot of people are making an issue now of the fact that I said I contemplated killing Alexander, not that I was going to kill him, but that I contemplated doing it. I am not hearing many of them, especially those on the NDP side, making issue of the fact that people are using social networks to scandalize people’s names, spread falsehoods and other rumours….

“People just have to be responsible, and know that somebody, sometime, may get really out of control, if somebody does something like this to them, and the thought process that people go through,” King explained.

“Your character is part of who you are. I believe you have a right to defend your character and yourself. Just like how you have a right to defend yourself from bodily harm, I believe you have a right to defend your character too, from assassination,” he added.

The posts in question have been removed from the social networking site, but prior to their removal Searchlight was able to obtain a copy.

SEARCHLIGHT was unable to make contact with Alexander up to press time on Monday afternoon.