title taken from “Salt” by 3 Canal

I’m not cancelling the “Sexiest Man Alive”

Black American actor and entrepreneur Michael B. Jordan recently faced backlash on Caribbean Twitter for his attempt to trademark the word “J’Ourvert” for the name of his new rum. People were appalled that he would dare to limit the use of the word… for commerce.

This week, the actor posted a mea culpa to appease the masses and vowed to rename the rum. So…is this a win for the Caribbean?

Nope. There was a real opportunity to showcase j’ouvert and Carnival culture that Caribbean governments missed. Think about it. This was the first time that NBC News, The Shaderoom, and Huffington Post were all talking about j’ouvert and not one Caribbean ministry seized the moment to educate the world about the cultural significance of the word and invite people to come experience it (once borders reopen, I guess). Instead, we told him to f**k off and that’s what he did.

While many are ready to write off the actor (as one does in cancel culture), I am not cancelling this man. This is a talented actor who has taken on characters that showcase the African-American experience, and someone who has said that he intends to make space for other Black actors.

Michael B. Jordan facts:

He’s the first Black actor to take over the role of John Clark in Tom Clancy'sWithout Remorse, which has previously been played by William Dafoe and Liev Schreiber.
The “B” in his name stands for Bakari, which means “promising” in Swahili.
His production company, Outlier Society, is trying to make Hollywood more inclusive.
He incorporates an "inclusion rider" into his contracts — a clause that allows actors to contractually demand 50% cast and crew diversity on set.
Four years after being traumatized by the Oscar Grant shooting, he took on the title role in “Fruitvale Station.” In an interview with Tell Me More, he says, “I felt a certain responsibility to just step up and, you know, try to express myself as best as I could through my work."

And let’s not forget how he breathed life into the words “Just bury me in the ocean with my ancestors that jumped from the ships because they knew death was better than bondage” as Erik Killmonger in “Black Panther.”

Are you really going to throw him away because of a bad business decision?