The Blackwash
Making cultural & historical commentary on social issues. Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by colour!
The Blackwash
Jafaican film controversy - Who benefits When Jamaica Becomes The Punchline?
What happens when a culture becomes a commodity? The controversial "Jafaican" film has sparked heated debate across social media and mainstream publications, with many fixating solely on Peter Andre's portrayal of a character attempting to "learn to be Jamaican." But beneath this surface-level discourse lies a far more complex story.
We're diving deep into what I call the "Black cosign" – the phenomenon where certain Black individuals provide approval for potentially problematic portrayals, often without understanding the wider implications. This isn't just about whether a comedy film crosses taste boundaries; it's about recognizing patterns of colonial cinema where Jamaican culture generates profit primarily for non-Jamaican entities while Jamaicans themselves remain at the bottom of the economic hierarchy.
The vertical integration analysis is particularly revealing. From production companies (Andre Films, Nwaka Studios) to distribution (Epicum Entertainment, Radioactive Pictures), the financial beneficiaries of "Jafakin" are predominantly non-Jamaican. Meanwhile, Jamaican involvement is largely limited to supporting roles, dialect coaching, and location scouting – despite the film being entirely built on Jamaican cultural aesthetics. Even when respected Jamaican figures like Oliver Samuels and Sizzla appear, they serve more as credibility tokens than creative partners with meaningful control.
This pattern of cultural extraction without proportionate return isn't new. We've witnessed how "harmless cultural parody" in shows like Bo Selecta damaged Black British careers and lives. When Trisha Goddard's child was bullied because of a caricature, or when Craig David fled to America to escape ridicule, we saw the real human cost of "just comedy." Now in 2025, we're seeing those same justifications recycled.
The weaponization of Jamaica's motto "Out of Many One People" to silence criticism is particularly troubling. When the film's Nigerian-British director suggests his frequent tourism gives him greater authority over Jamaican culture than diaspora Jamaicans, we're witnessing colonial dynamics repackaged as cultural appreciation.
Ready to challenge your thinking about cultural representation, economic justice, and who truly benefits when a culture becomes the punchline? Join the conversation and share your perspective on whether this represents cultural parody or something far more problematic. The difference matters not just for entertainment, but for how we value cultures and communities in our global society.
Have you seen the Jafakin film trailer yet, starring Peter Andre, mr Mysterious Girl himself? If you have, judging from the film trailer, is the depiction of Jamaica cultural parody, meaning okay, comedy is comedy or, in your opinion, is it cultural mockery? Comment your thoughts below. If you haven't seen it, I'll read out the synopsis lifted from the film's official website East London's Gary Buckle, aka Gazza, is what some would call an honest thief, if there is such a thing.
Speaker 1:After a lifetime of petty crime and short stints at her majesty's pleasure, gary finds himself in a predicament Broke again, but this time with a large debt to clear, as he is responsible for his elderly grandmother's care home costs. With this looming over his head, gazza needs to raise £35,000, and quickly to clear the outstanding debt. Gazza sets out to find ways of raising the money and, on a visit to his elderly grandmother's care home to deliver the bad news, he overhears a conversation between an elderly Jamaican lady and her grandson. What follows is a crazy, comedic journey which spans across London and the heart of Jamaica. Gazza has 21 days to learn how to be a Jamaican and pull off the craziest fraud of a lifetime, while trying not to get killed in the process. Learn to be a Jamaican or die trying.
Speaker 1:The trailer has made headlines the London Evening Standard, the Independent, the Daily Mail, the Voice newspaper, etc. By large, they are targeting Peter Andre. However, peter Andre would have never have done this film without the cosign a green light a black light. If you will Remember George Floyd, black Lives Matter that was only five years ago. During 2020, we fought white media institutions to remove harmful and offensive depictions of us Things such as Little Britain and Bo Selector. Now, if you grew up in the UK, chances are you would have seen it. Perhaps you even enjoyed it. At the time, it was seen as cultural parody Depictions of Mel B, trisha Goddard, craig David, etc. However, time has shown that cultural parodies don't age well and later they're often seen as mockeries. Trisha Goddard spoke about how the depictions of her on Bo Selector led to her child being bullied at school With Craig David. The mockery took on a life of its own, affected his career and he had to move away to America to escape the ridicule. Thankfully, talent is his ticket and in his recent years he has made a comeback and gained back notoriety.
Speaker 1:Now, in 2025, it seems like from the trailer, we may be on the receiving end again due to what I call the black cosign. This theory I've developed to explain circumstances. When a white friend or a colleague says to you or a black person, is it okay, will I get cancelled, will I get dragged? I believe Peter would have done just that. However, the black cosine says yeah, wear an Afro textured wig, afro textured locks, speak patois, say wagwan, it's OK. I find it funny. I want everyone to know that the black cosine isn't without ramifications and it doesn't mean that the whole black community are going to be okay with it. You see, the co in cosine stands for colonial meaning, characteristics pertaining to colonial rule, in this circumstance, british colonial rule. Now, this is a high vibrational platform. The reason why I created this commentary is to enlighten, because, in my opinion, the discourse is misguided. Some are expressing frustration, others amusement, and we're left with a whole leap of confusion. Regardless of where you stand team cultural parody or team mockery I need you to see the bigger picture, which leads me to introduce the director, writer and one of the producers of the film, freddie Nwaka. Now, flowers to Freddie. He has grafted and has many credits to his name.
Speaker 1:He appeared on Richie Brave's One Extra Talks towards the end of the episode of black music events being over policed to talk about the film Jafakin and the response Due to a potential copyright strike. I have transcripted the conversation and I shall be reading it out. Richie Brave starts how did the film Jafakin come about? Freddie replies I go to Jamaica and I've been going for many, many years. It's a beautiful island and I love the culture. Every time I've gone I've been embraced by so many different people. It's such a multicultural country and they are very welcoming. I've seen Chinese, indian, black, all different cultures and me myself. Growing up, I was really influenced by Jamaican culture and I wanted to tell a story that was bringing everyone together and explore the beautiful things about Jamaica that I love.
Speaker 1:Richie then says you are highlighting the beauty of Jamaica, but some of the things you're highlighting is also gangs, violence and fraud. Some of the negative things slash stereotypes associated with Jamaica. Freddie replies the storyline is fictitious. This storyline could take place anywhere in the world America, africa, anywhere. Richie then says you're not Jamaican yourself. Why was the backdrop not in Nigeria, for example? And Freddie replies no reason at all. He then says something really interesting which I'm going to dig into. Some of the greatest films to come out of that country aren't by Jamaica, aren't backed by Jamaica which we'll come to later Casting 15 to 16 people that applied for the role.
Speaker 1:We made sure that we had a Jamaican team that done the casting. Peter smashed his part. He is a very talented actor. We filmed in Jamaica. We used native Jamaicans as a part of the team and also in the UK we used native Jamaicans to give it that authenticity.
Speaker 1:He then goes on to say no blackface is used in the film. It has iconic people in the film like Sizzler and Oliver Samuels. These people wouldn't endorse a film that would put Jamaica in any form of bad light. He continues we're in a time where you can drop a hat and people are offended. The Jamaican motto is out of many one people right.
Speaker 1:Peter's character is a white guy from London who goes to Jamaica to imitate a white Jamaican. Richie Brave then replies and says if white Jamaican, why does he have an Afro textured wig? Freddie then replies when I went to Jamaica myself, I saw numerous white Jamaicans. Richie says but it's Afro textured. Freddie then says remember, it's a comedy. It's not a real person, it's a fictitious character. Freddie said I'm seeing hundreds thousands of people who cannot wait to see the film. Jamaicans cannot wait to see the film. The majority of people are excited to see the film. Richie then says what do you say to those who feel like their culture slash rosters are being mocked? Freddie then says you can't go to judgment yard, you have to be invited by sizzler. Sizzler invited us.
Speaker 1:If Sizzler thought anything was going wrong in Judgment Yard, he would have shut it down. He then goes on and says that his research team some of them are Jamaican, down to the food, the location scouts they use actual establishments. They had a dialect coach who was Jamaican. Let them know. Man, say that, kill man. All right, we did that from start to finish. He then implores everyone you have to watch the film. He says that he's getting loads of messages coming from native Jamaican saying that they are not offended. He then goes on and says it seems to be a certain type of person. I've gone to Jamaica more than some of my Jamaican friends. I have a son who is half Jamaican. I would never do anything that puts Jamaica in a bad light. So let's break it down. If you are a Jamaican person, regardless if your team watch or don't cultural parody or mockery you need to know this. This film will benefit Jamaicans the least. Let's recap what he said on Richie Brave's One Extra Talks. He says the research team some of them are Jamaican, the food Jamaican, location scout Jamaican. They use actual establishments. Dialect coach from start to finish.
Speaker 1:Point number one that I want to make is colonial cinema. In terms of vertical integration, we Jamaicans are at the bottom. Number one is the main actor, peter Andre. He's British, australian. Number two, the director, peter Andre. He's British, australian. Number two, the director, writer, producer is Freddie. He's British, nigerian. Number three, the production companies Andre Films, as in Peter Andre, nawaka Studios, as in Freddie. So that goes back to number one and number two, both Peter Andre and Freddie. Number four, distribution. We have epicum entertainment, which belongs to a woman called shireen, I believe she's of jamaican heritage. And number five, radioactive pictures, which is australian. I believe radioactive pictures are involved because of peter andre. Coincidentally, the premiere is happening in australia first in may and he mentions in the interview that they've been invited to launch it in Jamaica and they're eyeing an August date for that.
Speaker 1:For Radioactive Pictures. This is their most watched thing on YouTube and IG. You see, Jamaican culture is profitable and where would all that money from those streams and those clicks be going to the channel that it's uploaded to Lifting from their website. It says this Radioactive is a motion picture production and distribution company at the forefront of independent Australian and New Zealand cinema, telling the stories representing contemporary culture on the world stage. Underrepresented on screens worldwide, it is the true sense of who Australian and people from New Zealand are in today's society. It's a time for our stories to evolve, for us to be seen more on screens doing things that we do. Radioactive Pictures is focused on developing, producing and distributing high quality drama, both on the big and small screen.
Speaker 1:So question there is. It mentions a lot about Australia and New Zealand. So what does Jamaica have to do with their remit? Now, with a film called Jafacon, a parody of the word Jamaican? Personally, I would expect to see more Jamaicans higher up rather than, as he said, and I quote Jamaican food location scouts supporting actors, even Sizzler and Oliver Samuels, being used for credibility. They aren't producers, they aren't executive producers, they aren't writers, they aren't high up. Peter Andre's a producer, freddie's a producer, sizzler and Oliver Samuels aren't. Oliver Samuels recently came out in the Jamaican Gleaner and said that he hasn't even seen the whole script. It's just his little part that he had to do, the small cameo. They're not used as a trump card. That doesn't automatically mean it's okay, I know.
Speaker 1:A caveat to that would be, as he briefly mentioned in the interview, most of the films about Jamaica don't involve Jamaica. I don't know what films he's specifically referring to, but let's break down that notion. Most mainstream films, hollywood films, blockbusters yes, obviously it's for a mass, worldwide audience. Americans are heavily involved. So if you think of Cool Runnings or, most recently, the Bob Marley One Love film, which is a little bit different because the Marley family are involved, they signed it off. That's what they wanted.
Speaker 1:However, more localized, independent films let's call them cult classics, things such as Dance Our Queen, don Letts the director is a British, is a black British man of Jamaican ancestry. It stars Aubrey Reid. She's Jamaican born. Harder they Come was written by Perry Hensel and Trevor Roan, both Jamaican born, Starring Jimmy Cliff Shotters is starring the Marlies and Spragabends, and the director Written by and produced by, is Cess Silvera, also Jamaican born. So I don't know what films he's referring to. I don't know. His film is also an independent film, so I would compare it to those, and they have way more Jamaicans higher up in the vertical integration, as I've just proven. That's point one colonial cinema Jamaicans will be benefiting financially the least.
Speaker 1:Point number two social conditioning. Richie says in that interview you're not Jamaican yourself. Why wasn't the backdrop in Nigeria? Freddie replies no reason at all. Now, three of the producers listed on this film worked together on a film previously Freddie, jason Devil, who's listed as British Nigerian, and Shireen, who I believe is British Jamaican. The film was called On the Other Foot. Peter Andre also made a star appearance in the film.
Speaker 1:The synopsis goes Billy Pritchard is a racist. His daughter dates a black man and convinces him to attend an African church to embrace her partner's culture. He miraculously wakes up the next morning in a black person's body. The film is listed as a 3.6 out of 10. The director and writer is Bo Freddy and it was released in 2022.
Speaker 1:You see, they tried British Nigerian. They tried a British Nigerian film and it didn't work. Why? Because the market is saturated. You have British cinema and you've got Nollywood.
Speaker 1:Equally, nigerians don't deal in shame. They command respect. So what do you do? Horizontal integration you move along to Jamaicans. Why? Because Jamaicans are conditioned to like cultural parodies and mockeries of ourselves. You see it in our souvenirs red lips, locks, spliffs hanging out of our mouths. Our women hyper-sexualize and that's partly the reason why some Jamaicans are fine with it.
Speaker 1:Social conditioning Arguably some of us are used to it. We have perfected the art of welcoming people of racism and class and culture and colour and income from across the world. We make a successful business out of it, not only because of our sun and our sea and our sand, but because we are so friendly and hospitable. Tourism makes up one-fourth of jobs, like much of the Caribbean, but little of that money stays in the Caribbean. Our culture is being pimped and some of us see it as cultural parody or comedy, while the joke is on us because the money is barely reaching us.
Speaker 1:Point three out of many one people. Our motto is being weaponized Outside of race. Jamaicans are not monoliths, he says. Every time I go there I've been embraced by so many different people. It's such a multicultural country. They are very welcoming. I've seen Chinese, indian, black, all different cultures. So let's bring about some context. The national motto was created in 1962 because the leadership of the new independent Jamaica and the colonialists happy vacating the country wanted to first assure the wealthy and potential foreign investors that they had no need to worry about the desperately poor black masses. Moving forward today out of many one people reflects the diversity of Jamaican people, yes, being a mix of different races, cultures and religions, and I would also add, regionally, socially and politically. So of course, we, as Jamaicans, are going to have different views.
Speaker 1:Jamaica has 2.8 million people residing on the island. The island is seven times bigger than London. Within London, we know the differences between South West London, south East London, croydon, north West, south East. How much more Jamaica?
Speaker 1:In addition, this praise for Jamaican racial diversity needs to stop. For a black Brit, we live and experience a multicultural society, so, comparatively, jamaica is not diverse. Only 3% of the country are listed as white and more than half of them reside in one parish. Now, there aren't statistics that classify if a country is racially diverse or not. However, we need to stop elevating mediocre white people who put on a Jamaican accent. A white Jamaican is different. We see just white people putting on a jamaican accent. We see it with white influences. We see it with white girl yardie. We see it with mr. Remember him. If not, he is a british rapper from the isle of sheppy who puts on a jamaican accent accent, speaks in patois and he gets enough views. This situation is very similar to mr who try to discredit a black woman of Jamaican heritage because he goes to Jamaica more. They're more Jamaican than me.
Speaker 1:No, please, don't talk rubbish to me. No, listen to what I'm saying to you. Don't talk rubbish to me, please. It doesn't matter. I could have gone in 19 days. Let me speak while I'm speaking. You're not more Jamaican than me. Yes, I do.
Speaker 2:I do and I know about clashing. All right, Hold on, let me finish. Hold on hold on.
Speaker 1:Similarly, freddie said the same thing. He says loads of messages are coming from native Jamaicans saying that they're not offended. It seems to be a certain type of person. I've gone to Jamaica more times than my Jamaican friends. I have a son that's half Jamaican. I would never do anything to put Jamaica in a bad light, as if that is a trump card. It literally sounds just like I have a black friend and it's also very divisive to try to pit native Jamaicans against Jamaicans in the diaspora. Because you go to Jamaica more, it gives you more authority over the culture and that's why I say black cosine and co being colonial, because that is very colonial coded.
Speaker 1:Perhaps some Jamaicans in the diaspora may see it as a mockery, because we grew up with Little Britain and Bo Selector. We have seen the ramifications of cultural parodies and how they don't age well and how they can end black people's careers. You can't say out of many one people and then ignore the diversity of the people in the diaspora. Aren't we included in the many one people and then ignore the diversity of the people in the diaspora? Aren't we included in the many one people? To summarise the black cosine of Jafakin, it includes number one, colonial cinema. Number two, social conditioning, where we need to look at ourselves. And number three, the weaponisation of our motto. Out of many one people, we are not monoliths. To conclude, cultural parody or mockery. If you watch or if you don't, that's your prerogative, but the people and persons that will benefit the least from this are jamaicans.