Outrage is brewing in Barbados as citizens demand an explanation from the Mia Mottley administration for what many call blatant hypocrisy and a double standard for local entertainment.

The controversy continued to swirl on Bajan Twitter on Wednesday (June 9), as organisers for Haywire Weekend ramp up advertising for a series of energetic parties to be held exclusively for tourists.

Haywire Weekend, celebrating its fifth year of revelry, gets under way in Barbados from July 2 to 6 and sees travellers “come as friends but leave as family”, according to its website.

The five-day extravaganza has sold out on its premium US$1,650 packages, however, slots are still available for the standard option, which costs $1,550.

Bookings opened on March 4.

Promising a ‘memorable 2021’ for Haywire Homecoming, the organisers indicated on Instagram that they have upped the ante from one to two resorts for patrons to frolic without abandon.

More interestingly, Haywire organisers, in a May 19 post, said they were in “constant communication with the Board of Tourism”, sharing the visitbarbados.org domain as well as updated travel guidelines for entry into the Caribbean island.

The Bajan Twitterati is fuming since the government shuttered entertainment events as of December 30 last year, to tackle the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Nearly six months later, and despite promises of a review to determine the likelihood of Crop Over 2021, the government’s ban on party cruises and bus crawls remains in effect, and in light of Haywire Weekend, nothing but a full explanation is being demanded.

“If the tourists get to hold them events I wanna know the timeline for when we gonna be outside. I wanna know what events gonna be happening for Crop Over. I wanna know all; I ain’t fighting nobody weekend. I just want what’s fair to me as a Bajan living on this island,” @lukeyism, who highlighted the events, tweeted.

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The organising team for Haywire Weekend also had its sights set on an event staging in Jamaica back in March.

Haywire Weekend said it was assured by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) that the country had “adequate testing capacity for all visitors”, with patrons scheduled to arrive in Montego Bay on Friday, March 19.

Judging from its Instagram feed, it was a “glorious time” with flowing champagne.

Efforts to obtain a comment from the JTB on Haywire Weekend’s claims were not successful at the time of publication.

On the heels of the triumphant staging of Wrecking Ship in St Barthélemy, Anguilla and Sint Maarten in May, Barbados seems to be next in line on a long list of fast-paced parties by Haywire organisers.

Amid the growing backlash, Culture and National Development Minister John King declared that he could not respond without investigating Haywire Weekend’s claims.

In response to a Twitter user, King wrote: “At this point, I will categorically state the Division of Culture, which I have the ministerial responsible for is not privy to or involved in any way with the Haywire event(s). Therefore I cannot speak to the matter at hand without conducting due diligence.”

He added: “Trust me, I understand the frustration of many. However, I ask you to please be guided by official sources. As I said earlier, I am not privy to any upcoming activities. However, the National Cultural Foundation have been meeting with promoters and other stakeholders.”

Launched in July 2016 in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Haywire Weekend has since been held in Mexico, Greece, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Colombia, St Lucia and Atlanta, among other destinations.

On its remaining slate of getaways for this year are Barbados, Brazil, the Virgin Islands and Ghana.