Ex-Fugee Pras: I Won't Back Wyclef

Brooklyn Haitians skeptical of Jean's presidential bid
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2010 8:29 AM CDT

Wyclef Jean says he’s counting on New York’s plethora of Haitian expats to carry him to victory in his presidential bid. “Wyclef Jean needs to be 3 million strong,” Jean said recently. But there’s one New York Haitian he hasn’t won over: Ex-Fugees bandmate Prakazarel "Pras" Michel. “I endorse Michel Martell as the next president of Haiti,” Pras said yesterday, according to the New York Daily News, “because he is the most competent candidate.”

Pras isn’t alone, if the Daily News’ man-on-the-street interviews are any indication. “Wyclef is a musician. He’s not fit for the job,” said one Brooklyn Haitian. “It’s like taking an engineer and putting him in a hospital.” And at least one other celebrity is "very suspicious" of Jean's bid: Sean Penn tells CNN that "as an ambassador at large," Jean "has been virtually silent. For those of us in Haiti, he has been a non-presence." For more on that, click here. (More Prakazarel "Pras" Michel stories.)

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