With a bandaged hand, the ex-member of The Fugees casted his ballot and voted at the Haitian Presidential election on March 20.
- Mar 21, 2011
AceShowbiz - Wyclef Jean is OK now after being shot in the hand when visiting Haiti on the eve of the country's presidential elections, Saturday night, March 19. Despite the incident, the former member of The Fugees still voted at the election which took place on Sunday.
He has an elastic bandage covering his right hand, and showed off to Associated Press his ink-stained thumb on the bandaged hand as evidence that he voted. The Hip-Hop star entered presidential race last year, but was disqualified reportedly because he did not fulfill the criteria needed to run for office.
Talking about what happened over the weekend, Wyclef said, "The way I can explain it is that the bullet grazed me in my right hand. I heard blow, blow, blow, and I just looked at my hand." He was in Port-au-Prince that day to support fellow musician and Haiti presidential candidate Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly.
Wyclef was shot when stepping out of his car to make a call on his cellphone. He, who was with a driver and a Haitian hip-hop singer FanFan at the time, said he didn't know who fired the shots, or whether they were directed at him. He was later treated in a local hospital, but reportedly didn't talk to police.
Haitian police chief Mario Andresol told the press, "We can't tell you if he was injured by a bullet or something else," the officer said. "He will have to answer to police no matter what." Commenting on rumors that it's not a bullet which injured him, Wyclef said, "This is Haiti; it's a city of rumors. There's another one with me and Busta Rhymes in the car."
A music manager Jimmy Rosemond who accompanied Wyclef on his current trip to Haiti has his own theory about the whole incident. "It is clear that enemies of progressive change in Haiti are behind the shooting of Wyclef - those that don't want to accept that a monumental change is inevitable for the betterment of the Haitian people," he said. "This incident will not deter those of us that see the election as crucial to the country's future."
