Monrovia, July 5, 2021: The Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism has warned the organizers of Big Brabee Liberia against screening any content on their reality television show which goes against established guidelines on public decency and obscenity. At a meeting on Monday, July 5, 2021, BBL organizers were specifically told to immediately halt the broadcast of sexually explicit images, video and audio, or  other contents that run afoul of Liberian cultural values.

It can recalled, some obscene and sexually explicit images of the Big Brabree Liberia show went viral last week on social media with some Liberians condemning the organizers and saying they are trying to promote nudity and homosexual.

Speaking at well organized meeting today, Deputy Minister Daniel Gayedyu, who presided over the discussion, emphasized the need for the organizers to abide by the principles they had committed themselves to during their application process as contained in the regulations and guidelines of the Government regarding such media production. He said MICAT’s rules forbid the airing of contents that are obscene and sexually explicit, appealing to prurient interest.

Deputy Ministers Boakai M. Fofana and Lance Gba-goyon also notified the BBL team that they risk losing their permit to continue airing the show if they fail to conform to the national standard.  “MICAT has a responsibility of protecting the public trust”, said Minister Fofana, “these guidelines should set the legal parameters for broadcast”.

For his part, BBL’s Executive Director Fred Ola Ola apologized on behalf of his organization, while promising to ensure that they scrupulously
follow MICAT’s guidelines going forward. He said they have been working very hard behind the scenes in order to stop some of the acts that the public has been railing against. He promised that they will continue to do more in this regard. 

It was decided that MICAT will assign an inspector with BBL’s production team in order to ensure they are compliant.

Monday’s meeting was also attended by MICAT’s Assistant Minister for Culture, Margaret Frank, and the Assistant Minister for Info Sytems, Daniel Thomas.

Meanwhile, in press statement issued about the meeting with MICAT, BBL says it takes full blame of the situation. At the same time saying it is a law abiding project that will never engage in any act that could tarnish the image of an individual or country at large.

BBL further narrated that, the project was developed to promote the good image of the country to the world through the means of live filming Entertainment, to discover and modify new potentials that could be useful in promoting the socio-cultural value of the country and to create job opportunities for the youth and young adults.

In a related development, BBL has re-affirmed the Government of Liberia and the Audience at large to continue working in-line with the contents filming broadcasting regulations of the Ministry of Information, Culture Affairs and Tourism and Ministry of Internal Affairs respectively. 

“Moving forward, in order to protect the image of the BBL brand against the odds of the haters and hypocrites; henceforth, legal action shall be taking on any individual, entity or group that shares or post any propaganda or rumour message about the program, without a prove or confirmation.” Big Brabee Liberia stressed.