Guyanese Critic Under Fire for Racist Rant

The Guyanese Critic, whose real name is Mikhai Rodrigues, is a popular media personality who may be classified as an online journalist. He mostly uses Facebook to air his live shows. The Guyanese Critic has been known for his “on the spot” reporting – often going to great lengths to cover stories live as they occur. He has also been noted for his philanthropic nature and for reaching out to people in need.

The Guyanese Critic grew in popularity from around 2016 when he notoriously challenged the then recently implemented parking meter system by using a sledge hammer to break his car free. As of 2020, his fan base grew and soon surpassed 200,000 followers as he dubbed himself “the realest thing coming out of Guyana.”

However, as of late 2019/2020, many people have been speculating that the Guyanese Critic has become power drunk and has let his popularity get to this head. This hit a climax when the Guyanese critic was recently heard making a racist rant on social media saying in essence that “black people can’t read.”

This led to nationwide outrage and calling for a shutdown of the Guyanese Critic Facebook page. There has even been a “change.org” project set up urging support to shut down the Guyanese Critic and it gained over 3000 signatures in the first few hours.

Today, 16th of June, 2020, a few groups of people of African descent in Guyana took to the streets with placards to protest against the remarks of the Guyanese Critic. They chanted “I am black…and I can read.”

Meanwhile, the Guyanese Critic came on air to say that his remarks were taken out of context by clipping a small part of the video without showing the big picture of the point he was trying to make. The Guyanese Critic is of mixed race with Afro obviously a part of his heritage.