(AllHipHop News)
Wyclef Jean is running for president of Haiti, but the candidate already has fierce critics.After Wyclef Jean formally announced his plan to run for president of Haiti on CNN, the new company presented Sean Penn and leading reporter Anderson Cooper to offer their views.Penn was particularly apprehensive about supporting Wyclef and even stated he was “suspicious” of the candidate.
“What the Haitian people need now is a leader who’s genuinely willing to sacrifice. One reason I don’t know very much about Wyclef Jean because I haven’t seen or heard of him in these last six months that I’ve been in Haiti,” Penn said. “I think he’s an important voice. I hope he doesn’t sacrifice that voice by taking the eye off the very devastating realities on the ground and the very difficult strategic future its got in putting itself back together.”
Penn said he felt there were possible corporate interests behind Wyclef’s move and also said that alleged financial inconsistencies with the rap artist’s Yele Haiti deserved more investigation.
Roland Martin, the political talking head, fired back at Penn in defense of Wyclef, but also told AllHipHop.com that he was not endorsing the international superstar.
“Who the hell is Sean Penn on CNN to question Wyclef running for president of Haiti? He accused corporate American interests backing him,” Martin said via Twitter. “It is WRONG for Penn to assert that corporate interests are behind Wyclef’s campaign because he heard it from someone.”
Furthermore, Martin also questioned Penn’s commitment to Haiti, as the country was devastated long before the tremendous earthquake hit just over six months ago.
“Has Sean Penn been on the ground in Haiti for 6 months? Yes. Was he in Haiti long before the earthquake? No. Perspective, folks,” Martin continued. “By the way, WE have our own history of entertainers running for office with no political experience. Let’s not get uppity.”
AllHipHop.com broke the news of Wyclef’s landmark announcement last week, but the Hip-Hop artist made the formal revelation on Thursday (August 5) as initially reported.