Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has called on Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar to re­tract com­ments about ca­lyp­so and is­sue an apol­o­gy to the na­tion.

In a state­ment is­sued on car­ni­val Tues­day, Beck­les said the Prime Min­is­ter’s lat­est so­cial me­dia re­marks re­flect­ed “a trou­bling lack of re­straint and judg­ment” and de­scribed them as an “un­hinged and des­per­ate out­burst.”

Beck­les took is­sue with the Prime Min­is­ter’s ref­er­ence to ca­lyp­sos as “hate­ful di­a­tribes” and ca­lyp­so­ni­ans as “po­lit­i­cal stooges,” say­ing such com­ments were of­fen­sive and in­sen­si­tive. She ar­gued that ca­lyp­so has deep his­tor­i­cal roots tied to the ex­pe­ri­ence of en­slaved Africans un­der colo­nial rule and has long served as a ve­hi­cle for so­cial com­men­tary.