Social media personality Matara French is clapping back, after she faced backlash for visiting a school to speak to students, while many describe her character as controversial and obscene.
French visited the Carapichaima East Secondary School early in February along with her agent Nigel C Watson to provide words of encouragement to the students.
However, after a video went viral slamming her appearance, the Education Ministry released a statement on Friday, distancing itself from the school’s invitation, saying it did not receive any request to include French in any school event and as a result, never issued any approval for French’s visit.
“This participation was not sanctioned by the Ministry of Education,” the release said. “All school supervisors and principals are in possession of instructions with regard to the selection and approval process for external parties to speak at schools.”
The release said the guidelines were re-issued with the mandate that only the Ministry of Education, through the Chief Education Officer, can approve external speakers at school events.
In a lengthy post on Friday, French slammed all who called her inappropriate for children, saying that she has been speaking at secondary schools for over 10 years, long before anyone even knew about her.
She said she has always gone out of her way to give back to the youngsters and tries to steer them towards positive actions.
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French’s agent Watson, who is also a social media “influencer”, spoke to the Newsday and said the public relations officer of the school’s PTA invited him to assist in an event with social media personalities.
Watson said, “The ministry is sending a message that once you did something wrong, you should not be forgiven and nobody should hear you and you should just stay under the bus, and I think that is wrong. We all make mistakes.”
He said, at the school event, French’s message was very positive and encouraging.
“She told them she herself had it tough growing up, and she learned from her mistakes and now she’s trying to turn over a new leaf. She told them to stay away from drugs. She talked about bullying and how she was also bullied online. She encouraged them to be strong about bullying. It was all positive, along that line.”
Watson said despite the poor image of French that the video portrays, she is trying to make a difference in her life.
He said French was also a businesswoman who sold beauty products and had done charitable work in her community. He added that, although the recent controversy had damaged her efforts to change her image, she should be given a second chance.
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