In your Saturday, October 31, edition, your reader, Willard Garnett, accused me of a "somewhat disgusting remark", in response to an answer that singer Christopher Martin gave to a question I asked on TVJ's 'Smile Jamaica', recently.

I am not in the habit of responding to public criticism, however, since Mr Garnett misrepresented my comments, I now feel compelled to do so.

While Mr Garnett got the facts right, he reached the wrong conclusion in understanding the point of my joke with Mr Martin.

Good choice

I asked the singer how he coped with his celebrity while at college. Mr Martin responded that he had attended school for four years so people had got used to him being there. He said that he was studying finance and I said 'good choice'.

Previously, I had referred to a newspaper report that suggested that Patrick Casserly may soon be appointed as a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) senator and assigned to the Ministry of Finance.

I also remarked that Mr Casserly's hue was similar to that of others who had moved from the private sector into Government. And so, jokingly, I said to Mr Martin that maybe he could get the finance ministry job, but, on reflection, maybe he's a little too dark.

Teasing sarcasm

Now, I would have thought the teasing sarcasm in this latter statement was obvious, given my earlier comments. The intended fun and sarcasm were obvious to Mr Martin, to my co-host and, I suspect, to numerous viewers. It is a pity that Mr Garnett was not among the viewers who understood the joke. I hope that with this explanation, Mr Garnett now gets it.

He is well within his right to comment on various social ills, such as social upheaval, class divisions, prejudice and bleaching, however, to interpret my joke as being a disgusting endorsement of these damaging phenomena is incomprehensible.

I am, etc.,

SIMON CROSSKILL

Kingston