{"id":5609,"date":"2017-07-27T14:46:16","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T14:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=5609"},"modified":"2017-07-27T14:46:16","modified_gmt":"2017-07-27T14:46:16","slug":"aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners\/","title":{"rendered":"Aflak breaks silence on controversial carnival banners"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The man who sourced the carnival decorations now at the center of a national controversy says he never intended to highlight any aspect of gay-pride.<\/p>

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\u201cThere was no effort on my part to represent anything other than the colour and splendor of carnival and to try as best as possible to get in the short period of time I was asked to source the material,\u201d Paul Aflak told Observer Radio this morning.<\/p>\n

The banners which some people say represented the flag of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender movement were taken down on Sunday shortly after they were installed.<\/p>

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The carnival minister Paul Chet Greene blamed \u201cthe contractor\u201d for not following directives in representing the colours of the national flag.<\/p>

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However, Aflak told the radio station that the minister is mistaken since he never had any conversation with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that the national flag colours were to be used was in a different conversation that I never had with the minister because it was never discussed with the minister. It was discussed with the festivals commission for the upcoming celebrations for independence,\u201d he revealed.<\/p>

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The businessman noted that the colours used were that of those used in festivals commission logo.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not the symbol of gay-pride and that is not what we are trying to represent whatsoever. It is to represent festivity in the island and to cheer up the city,\u201d he said.<\/p>

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\u201cWe tried our best to get something that looked festive that we could get in a short period of time that matched the logos of Antigua\u2019s carnival\u201d he added.<\/p>

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The flags have been a source of controversy since they were installed with members of the LGBT community condemning their removal as an act of homophobia.<\/p>\n

Others praised the decision of the minister who said the banners did not represent Antigua\u2019s carnival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The man who sourced the carnival decorations now at the center of a national controversy says he never intended to highlight any aspect of gay-pride. \u201cThere was no effort on my part to represent anything other than the colour and splendor of carnival and to try as best as possible to get in the short […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured"],"yoast_head":"\nAflak breaks silence on controversial carnival banners - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aflak breaks silence on controversial carnival banners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The man who sourced the carnival decorations now at the center of a national controversy says he never intended to highlight any aspect of gay-pride. \u201cThere was no effort on my part to represent anything other than the colour and splendor of carnival and to try as best as possible to get in the short […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-27T14:46:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Rainbow.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Aflak breaks silence on controversial carnival banners\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-27T14:46:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-27T14:46:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners\/\"},\"wordCount\":315,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Entertainment\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/aflak-breaks-silence-on-controversial-carnival-banners\/\",\"name\":\"Aflak breaks silence on controversial carnival banners - 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