PASTOR THREATENS TO SUE GINO JENNINGS
Pastor Gino Jennings and Minister Gary Robinson have been issued a cease-and-desist order from the attorneys of the Reverend Dr Carla Dunbar for the unauthorised use of her image in the promotion of their mid-year convocation event scheduled to be held on May 26 and 27, 2018.
In a story carried in THE STAR on Monday, Dunbar, the Reverend Phyllis Smith-Seymour and dancehall artiste Mr Vegas were listed as persons who would be in discussions with Jennings about topics including the dress code of church women.
However, Dunbar stated that she only learnt of the event after she saw her image and name on the promotional billboards.
“They need to issue a public apology, otherwise they will be getting a lawsuit. I have not given any consent to use my name or image on any of their billboards. I was driving to Cross Roads one day and I saw one of the billboards, and that’s how I even know about the event. I then saw another one as I passed Devon House and another one in Half-Way Tree,” she said.
Dunbar is threatening to take legal actions if Jennings and his team do not remove all billboards and promotional material that include her image or name for the upcoming event within 24 hours of the letter that was dated May 1, 2018. The YouTube video which had previously advertised the convocation has been removed.
Dunbar added that on that particular day, she is scheduled to be at an event at the White House in Washington DC.
PUBLISH AN APOLOGY
“They are also served with a formal demand to publish an apology in the Jamaica Gleaner on two consecutive Sundays leading up to the event. I will not be there, I will be representing the Caribbean at the White House on that day,” she stated.
Mr Vegas also stated that he was unaware of him being booked for the convocation and only received an invite on Monday after an article was published in THE STAR.
When THE STAR contacted Minister Gary Robinson of the First Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ in St Elizabeth, he admitted that the advertisements were sent out before the invitations, but stated that Jennings will be rebutting their statements whether or not they are present.
“The advertisement did not state that it’s a guarantee that they will be there. There are times when persons are confirmed for an event and still not show up for whatever reason,” he said.
“They spoke publicly so I don’t think they would expect it to go unchallenged like that. The only reason they did not get a response is because Pastor Jennings does not live in the country, but he decided to answer them at this convention,” he added.
Both Dunbar and Mr Vegas were responding to Jennings after a video of him classifying women who chose to be fashionably dressed in church as ‘whores’ went viral.
But, according to Robinson, he does not think it is extremely out of line to use their images and names in the advertisement as they were not using it to make a profit.
“As I said before, they first went and made utterances and we are responding. Mr Vegas went on YouTube and spoke about Pastor Jennings and he didn’t get Pastor Jennings’ permission to speak about him. Mrs Dunbar went on TVJ and she spoke at length about him and she didn’t ask what he thought. She was speaking publicly,” he said.