Politician’s go-go club confession sparks firestorm

People's National Party (PNP) candidate for Trelawny Southern, Paul Patmore, is brushing aside criticism after a video surfaced of him declaring that he was the first to bring several ventures, including a go-go club to the parish.

Patmore insists the remark reflects his humble beginnings, not scandal, and argues that his past makes him more relatable to the working-class voters he hopes to represent.

In the video, which has been circulating on social media, Patmore is heard saying, "Everything yuh can think of in Trelawny, a Paul Patmore a the first man do it. Ask anybody who a the first person carry go-go come in the parish."

The comment has sparked debate over whether such candour strengths Patmore connection with voters or leave him vulnerable to political attack. Patmore told THE STAR that his comments were deliberate and should not be twisted for political gain.

"One of my first businesses, at age 18, I operated a club. We refer to them as go-go clubs, but really it was dancers coming in to perform," he explained.

"That is part of my testimony, and I share it with pride," he said. "People are just trying to spin something. They are so desperate."

The PNP candidate portrayed his journey, from running a sound system and sleeping on speaker boxes after late-night gigs, to operating a dance club that earned $600 a night, as proof that he knows what it means to hustle from the ground up. Now, he says he operates businesses generating "between $500,000 and $1 million a day."

For him, that journey, from hustling at the margins to operating multimillion-dollar ventures, is proof of resilience.

"That's why I'm telling the people Paul Patmore is who they can relate to. Someone who started from nowhere and made it to somewhere," he said.

Patmore argued that his opponents want to brand him as privileged, when in fact he was once a barefoot student walking to school in Trelawny.

"If you believe I was too poor so don't vote for me, that is your problem," he added.

Far from backtracking, Patmore has sought to turn the episode into a wider political conversation about class, hustling and respect for the country's informal economy.

"There are a lot of persons who live off clubs. We have around 20,000 dancers in Jamaica and those persons can vote. I'm representing the poorer class of people, the ones people look down on like the go-go dancers," he said.

As campaigning in Trelawny South intensifies, Patmore's gamble is that voters will reward his candour and see his past as proof of resilience. Whether that authenticity resonates with the grassroots or alienates conservative voters will be tested at the polls.

Patmore, however, remains defiant. "I don't want to be one of those persons who make it in life and forget where they are coming from. I am comfortable with my past," he said.