Soca artiste Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez last night apologised on behalf of his wife Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez for posting his Hummingbird Silver award on social media before the official list was released to the public by the Office of the President.
The post was posted last Tuesday by Lyons-Alvarez, four days before the Office of the President named the 40 national award recipients on the occasion of the 41st anniversary of T&T becoming a Republic yesterday.
In dedicating his award to the people of T&T and to his family after collecting it at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port-of-Spain, last night, Alvarez admitted that the announcement of the award was posted on social media before the President’s list became public.
In clarifying how it happened, Alvarez said in the midst of all the excitement and knowing that social media is the craze, Fay-Ann wanted to get good news out.
“It was kind of a special moment not only for us but for the fan base we developed over the years, so they had a chance to see that these things are happening to the artistes they support.”
He said he was not sure if the issue caused a rift. However, Alvarez said to begin with, he was not briefed by the Office of the President not to announce the news publicly.
But after being told by the media that it was reported that he broke protocol, and if he did would he apologise for doing so, Alvarez said: “I didn’t post anything. If my family did, I apologise on behalf of them.”
Asked if it was Fay-Ann who posted the news on social media, Alvarez said “it probably was. I really can’t remember. I think it was she though.”
Alvarez said he was not reprimanded by President Anthony Carmona for the incident, but was congratulated.
He said he felt special to be honoured with such a prestigious award and now aims to go for gold - the Order of the Republic of T&T.
“I really did not expect it. It’s a good feeling. What I did to achieve this was on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago and my family,” Alvarez said.