Veteran broadcaster Michelle Malcolm was fired from her daily radio talk show on Guardian Radio 96.9FM on Thursday after her guest Lincoln Bain made some controversial comments regarding the nephew of St. Anne’s MP and former cabinet minister Brent Symonette.
Bain called the Symonettes “uncircumcised philistines” and threatened to release Symonette’s financial records.
An alleged threat to sue Guardian Radio followed after Bain accused the Symonette family of becoming millionaires by raping the country’s natural resources.
Bahamas Materials Company Limited is headed by Cameron Symonette, the Symonette Group’s chief executive, and his joint venture partner Ted Baker of the US-based Blue Water Industries.
The pair is seeking a 40-year lease over 5,000 acres of crown land to carry out the North Andros mining project.
“They’ve been messing with Bahamians’ money for years and we’re sick of it,” Bain said.
Malcolm then jumped in and asked, “Here’s my thing though. If y’all claiming this thing don’t have no value and it ain’t really no money in it, why y’all keep mining it after all these years?”
Bain claimed he went on the show to expose the Symonettes’ involvement in the controversial project.
“You made enough for ten generations from our natural resources. Not only your children deserve to be millionaires,” Bain said of the Symonette family.
However, the Symonettes weren’t too happy about Bain’s comments and threatened to take the Guardian to the cleaners if it didn’t address the situation.
The radio station, owned by Anthony Ferguson and Manny Alexiou, cut Malcolm loose to pacify Symonette.
However, sources tell the Gallery Bain’s inflammatory comments may have been an excuse to axe the former ZNS newswoman whose radio show hasn’t pulled in the type of advertising dollars the radio station would like.
This is the second broadcasting gig Malcolm has lost in two years. Before she signed on for talk radio she was given the boot from her General Manager position at Island Luck TV amid staff complaints about her outdated leadership style.
