Hip Hop Star Lisa M Says WAPA-TV Kicked Her Out for Attending San Juan Peace Vigil

You would think that Puerto Rico’s WAPA-TV would try to avoid even more controversy as it looks for a way to resolve the BoicotLaComay mess. Apparently, according to Otro20Pesos.com, WAPA now has another problem on its hand. Tonight the blog reported that Puerto Rico hip hop star Lisa M was kicked out of the network and was not allowed to perform during the show’s noon time show.

Lisa M was scheduled to sing Christmas songs with children, but it never happened. The blog talked with Lisa M tonight, and she says that the network escorted her from the building because she was at Wednesday’s San Juan peace vigil, which was also a demonstration against “SuperXclusivo” and its opinionated puppet host.

Otro20Pesos interviewed Lisa M in Spanish, and what follows are our own translations of what she told the blog. You can read the original blog here.

I already had the microphone in me hand and the kids were ready. At that moment I see my production manager signaling to me that I would not be performing. Then [producer] Gilda Santini approached me and said she was not to blame, but that people from the top called and told [Santini] how could I have the audacity to be here to promote my music after being at yesterday’s boycott, which was only against La Comay and not against WAPA, and because of that I could not be performing on the network.

According to the blog post, Lisa M and her team were then escorted from the building, but before she told Santini the following: “I said nothing wrong at the vigil. I was interviewed by Primera Hora and El Nuevo Día, and I can show you the video. I never directly attacked anyone. I did say that both WAPA and other TV channels should improve some of their programming.”

I felt so bad, not only for myself but for my musicians and my team, these guys who have sacrificed so much to get to where they are. They sometimes don’t even have gas money, and we were all ready to go and then we have to suffer the embarrassment of getting kicked out.

In all the years of my artistic career, nothing like this has never happened to me in any other country, and here it happens in my own country. I’m going to call on my people, the real people from the street, to speak out against what has happened to me. I’ll do a video and I’ll post it on my social networks. Let’s see what the people, the people who have supported me throughout my career and who have never disrespected me say, unlike the people who disrespected me today. Those people [WAPA management] think they have all the power. I’m not going to start a boycott. This is going to be a revolution.

Lisa M, whose real name is Marlisa Marrero Vázquez, is known as “La Suprema” and “The Queen of Spanish Rap.” A few years ago, she made headlines when she disclosed her lesbianism. Homophobia and anti-gay remarks have been a constant problem for La Comay and the “SuperXclusivo” show, and it is one of the reasons the current boycott is calling for the show to be cancelled.