Destra speaks out on Ali Khan video bacchanal

WHILE singer Destra Garcia was shocked at the reactions to her recently released video, Me Gusta, with Pakistani-American cricketer Ali Khan, she believes the videos of apologies done by Khan and Dwayne “DJ” Bravo showed “great courtesy” by wanting to remedy the situation.

She added that it was “nice of them” to try to fix the situation when they realised everyone was attacking her.

In a phone interview with Newsday on Thursday evening, Garcia said for whatever reason Khan did not anticipate his family’s reaction.

She added, Bravo is her friend and “hooked up the whole scenario because Ali Khan is popular with the ladies.”

Garcia said she felt Khan was the best choice for the video as when one is doing a video it is like a play and one wants “the most popular character so that people would come and see the play and watch the video over and over again.”

She said Khan was the best choice as during the cricket season everyone was raving about him.

Garcia felt people who did not know Ali Khan would know him now as she has a huge following. She added, they quickly became friends.

Garcia said Khan’s family never said the video was offensive, and they were probably just shocked by seeing him in a video. “He has never done a music video and this is new territory for him as well.”

Garcia said Khan was a growing public figure and this maybe the first but not the last. She said there were people who came before him like Shah Rukh Khan who had the same religion and came from the same place.

“Sometimes you do something for the first time and your parents are like ‘I did not expect that.’

“At the end of the day, we are all grown-ups and our parents can teach us things, and we can take their advice mostly, but as a parent you have to let go at some point.”

Garcia said Bravo felt the need to apologise to Khan’s dad because he was the one who made the connection between them. She said Bravo did not know Khan’s father would have posted the video apology to social media. She said people were asking why Bravo posted the video, but said it was not him and it was a private video between himself and Ali’s father.

“What we fail to realise when we post negative comments online about someone who has a different culture they really do feel offended. And really do feel attacked.”

Garcia added that Khan’s father probably saw a lot of the comments on social media and felt hurt for his son.

She said she was glad Bravo made the connection between Khan and herself and was glad she met him.

“They all showed great courtesy,” she said.

Garcia has released a new song called Permission Slip. She has released eight songs so far.

She added the music coming out so far is making her excited for Carnival 2020 and she was glad everyone was loving the music.

Garcia said she never gets carried away by the negative, as negative and positive must always go together.

Asked if she would be having a concert to celebrate her 20th anniversary in carnival, Garcia said she was not sure as doing concerts and events in TT was either hit or miss for her.

“I don’t know. I am scared. Keep following and when I make a decision, trust me it will be all over social media.”