He may have been criticized for leaving the house meeting early on Tuesday - but Leader of the Opposition Shyne Barrow may have done so in pursuit of a greater cause - at least for him personally.
He's turned up on a whirlwind publicity tour leading up to the premier of his documentary "The Honorable Shyne". Jomarie Lanza has a review of some of the stops he made, touching stages no Belizean has before:
While he may have left his party in a tumultuous state….
"clapping..."
Shyne Barrow is on a Press Tour for the launch of his documentary, "The Honourable Shyne Barrow" on Nov 18.
So far he has appeared on the Tamron Hall Show, the Daily Show, Access Hollywood and Steven A Smith's Podcast.
And the man who is frequently hectored and harassed by the Belizean media is treated like an emperor returning in triumph to take a bow:
applause...
Shyne Barrow
"I've got to come here more often my goodness."
"Come on back."
Shyne Barrow
"This is like Madison Square Garden or Nassau Coliseum when I used to be a performer.
When I used to be performer"
Stephen A Smith, Host, The Stephen A. Smith Show
"Not only are you a politician, you look like a politician. Did you ever in your wildest dreams believe you'd be sitting here today as a politician talking to me and anybody else, for that matter?"
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"Well, you know, I'd like to be specific. I'm the opposition leader of the Belize House of Representatives. I'm not just a politician elected representative which puts me in line to be the next prime minister of Belize."
Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition
"You know there is no greater fulfillment than knowing as opposition leader I'm fighting for policies, I'm fighting for legislation that is going to help the young Shyne's, whether a young girl or young boy.
"This is even greater for me because you are creating a society, your policies are going to impact society at large and not just impact the creative sector, the Agro sector, the business sector the laborers so it's similar to a musician because everyone listens to your music so it really is a seamless transition for me."
But more than just speaking about his personal ambition, Barrow is doing a lot of explanation about his history with Sean P Diddy Combs:
Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition
"I wasn't the one arguing no one can tell you that Diddy was the one arguing he was the one having a confrontation but that's my guy you know we are working together we are part of a team, a Bad Boy family. I'm not going to leave him and just abandon his side which is what he ended up doing to me as I said I said this back in 2001 and I've said it over the years but then there came a point where it was like a cancer I can't carry this with me for the rest of my life."
"I had a loss of 10 years incarceration for something that I didn't do I was defending a friend and a friend turned around and said it was him but it wasn't me it was according to the witnesses. One witness said Diddy Shot him, I never said it because I was busy defending myself and defending him but the point I'm trying to make is I could have felt sorry for myself for ten years but I didn't I was present everyday of those ten years then I got deported and I was present every day for the 13 years of deportation before I was allowed to come back here as the future Prime Minister of Belize so I kept fighting for 23 years."
"His celebrity, his power was so loud that when myself and my mom and my supporters were screaming, Hey, this guy destroyed my life, this guy sent witnesses to testify against me."
"And I was just trying to defend him. And, you know, he's ruined my life, took away my freedom, took away my career. Nobody was listening. Nobody heard me. And I've been saying it for so long. And I got to a point where I said, you know what? I'm not going to keep exerting energy on blaming anyone. I'm going to take responsibility for my life."
"I'm going to curate my present and my future, and I'm going to let go of this baggage.""
"I pray for the victims and I pray for Diddy. I pray that he's able to do some soul searching. And even if he's not guilty of the accusations, there's a reason he is where he is right now, and it's up to him to communicate with God and and to try to cleanse his soul and pivot and move forward."
And Barrow also got the opportunity to boast about his personal evolution:
Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition
"Because I'm a very stoic person. I'm a very disciplined and focused person. So I don't I don't live in these pockets of emotions in the journey of life. I move on. Yeah, but in making myself vulnerable and inviting people to do an examination of my life, I had to go back."
"I think it's like the human spirit, which is indefatigable and indomitable. It's incredible. Yeah. Like a lot of people, I think all of us have that. We have that. And that's why those people are so excited to see me because I represent them."
And while the audience coos as he occupies these global stages with a kind of glib grace, Shyne still has one thing on his mind: little ‘ole us:
Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition
"As the opposition leader of Belize. I have to be transparent. I have to be accessible to the media. And there's always this one sensationalist journalist's names Jules Vasquez. He hates all politicians and ask the worst questions. So while I'm talking about the state of the nation, he'll ask me about Diddy."
Host:
"So this is why you had to."
Shyne Barrow, Leader of The Opposition
"So that's why. That's why you see those sound bites. Because I don't care to talk about them. I care about public policy, public administration, health care, citizen security, education."
The film's producers had a closed premiere party in the US earlier this week.
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