{"id":2964,"date":"2010-12-06T18:55:53","date_gmt":"2010-12-06T23:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=2964"},"modified":"2010-12-13T19:18:36","modified_gmt":"2010-12-14T00:18:36","slug":"busch-gardens-owners-fire-%e2%80%98the-sheiks%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=2964","title":{"rendered":"Busch Gardens Owners Fire \u2018The Sheiks\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY LEON B. CREWS<\/strong>
\nSentinel Staff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of an overall restructuring at SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, layoffs of more than 120 people were announced at Tampa\u2019s Busch Gardens.<\/p>\n

Among the layoffs were the Mystic Sheiks of Morocco, an all-Black entertainment group that has been performing for 35 years.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s 14 members were told they were being fired during an impromptu meeting last Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Mystic Sheiks are Pete Henefield, Earl Rutledge, Rufus Spencer, Solomon Taylor, Michael Bliss, Nathaniel Gordon, Ernest Elmore, Ronnie Laing, Ricky Williams, Mike Hill, Terry Clark, Karay Nard, Ricardo Floyd<\/strong>, and Desmond Boone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Terry Clark<\/strong>, who joined the Sheiks 31 years ago, said none of them had a clue this was happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cA meeting was called for Thursday, a day we normally have off and that\u2019s when we were told we were being terminated. The word just came down from the new owners, and that was it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficially, we will be paid until February 2, 2011, but we aren\u2019t allowed on the property.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark<\/strong> said a lot of people in other departments also got pink slips, and they all just have to try and make the best of it.<\/p>\n

K-Ray<\/strong>, who joined the Sheiks 16 years ago, said when he heard an annual meeting had been called, he knew something was going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very unusual for this kind of meeting to be called, especially on our day off. When I got to the meeting, the first thing I noticed [private]was all the security personnel there. After the meeting, we all had to hand over our security badges, and from there we had to leave the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very upset over how this happened, and I think the timing stinks. Most of us have families to take care of, and this is not a favorable time to be out of work. We\u2019ll probably get back together at some point and discuss our next move. But for right now, I\u2019m wondering how I will take care of my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronnie Laing<\/strong> has been a Sheik for 22 years, and said he believes they were deceived.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were deceived and lied to when we were told it was a monthly meeting to discuss going forward for the 2011 year. The decision to fire us wasn\u2019t made overnight, because they had individual packets already made up. I also don\u2019t believe getting rid of the whole group was as random as they would have you think.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t see anything good coming from the company with the new owners. I think they want a quick return on their investment, and the final decision didn\u2019t come from them on who to let go. This wasn\u2019t handled tactfully at all, and this is no way to treat people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter from group members Laing, Henefield, Nard, Floyd, Boone, , Bliss, Pete<\/strong> and Terry<\/strong>, they state December 2nd<\/sup> was Black Thursday at the Entertainment Department of Busch Gardens.<\/p>\n

The letter said the only Black staff member left in entertainment, Earl Rutledge<\/strong>, was also let go.<\/p>\n

The Mystic Sheiks wrote their own music and were an icon at Busch Gardens.<\/p>\n

Some members feel Entertainment Director, Nancy Hutson<\/strong>, played a role in the band being fired.<\/p>\n

In the only statement released by Busch Gardens on the firing of the Sheiks, their media representative, Kelly Heckinger<\/strong>, said this is the official company statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sheiks have performed at Busch Gardens since 1975, and we have been proud to showcase the talents of the individuals who play in the band. However, as we move forward in our new structure, we are re-evaluating all aspects of our park. The Sheiks are among the entertainment we will move away form, but we are certain to bring guests more and new exciting entertainment in the future.\u201d[\/private]<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer As part of an overall restructuring at SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, layoffs of more than 120 people were announced at Tampa\u2019s Busch Gardens. Among the layoffs were the Mystic Sheiks of Morocco, an all-Black entertainment group that has been performing for 35 years. The band\u2019s 14 members were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}