Min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter Nicholas Mor­ris has pushed back against mount­ing crit­i­cism fol­low­ing the au­dio dis­rup­tion that af­fect­ed for­mer Ca­lyp­so Monarch Helon Fran­cis dur­ing Sun­day’s Di­manche Gras show, de­clar­ing that the gov­ern­ing Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress is not afraid of cri­tique.

The in­ci­dent, which saw Fran­cis’ au­dio cut mid-per­for­mance dur­ing his ren­di­tion of Doh For­get, trig­gered back­lash from cul­tur­al groups, po­lit­i­cal op­po­nents and mem­bers of the pub­lic, with some al­leg­ing cen­sor­ship. But speak­ing at yes­ter­day’s post-Cab­i­net me­dia brief­ing, Mor­ris dis­missed those claims and de­fend­ed both the Gov­ern­ment and the state broad­cast­er TTT.

“The UNC has re­ceived bash­ing from ca­lyp­so­ni­ans for over 20 to 25 years. There is no need to mute a mic to not hear what he has to say. This par­ty and this Prime Min­is­ter and leader has stood up to take ridicule, to take bash­ing from many peo­ple in so­ci­ety,” Mor­ris said.