Iconic comedian, Lazarus Boora affectionately known as Gringo in local entertainment circles has blasted the abuse of party regalia by vendors of pirated CDs and DVDs as immunity against prosecution.
Gringo who has failed to make a significant return to showbiz since his blockbusting Gringo The Troublemaker of 2013 bemoaned government’s reluctance in protecting artists from piracy.
“As artists, we know government has a lot on its shoulders and we do not expect financial assistance from them, all we want is protection from piracy so that we make money by ourselves. Alas! government has failed to put in place measures that protect our content.
“Some equipment and machinery that government allows to cross borders into the country should be paying heavy duty fees because it comes to destroy lives and careers. Sadly, it comes in without further scrutiny of its purpose.
“I had hoped to make a comeback with Gringo The Troublemaker in anticipation that we would make massive sells but piracy pulled us down and we made little,” said Gringo in an interview with Capitalk FM.
He cited the use of party regalia by vendors to protect themselves from prosecution as the main propagator of continued sale of pirated material in the streets.
“It has even become difficult to apprehend people committing these crimes because they use political party t-shirts to avoid arrest,” he said.
Gringo repeated wide calls for an arts minister who understands the terrain as the only solution to improve the country’s arts sector.
“Had we been represented by ministers with a passion for arts or those with some art background then maybe our challenges would be taken seriously,” said Boora.
