Wyclef-birthday-speedo-motorcycle

In a defiant, maybe a tad defensive, celebration of his birthday, Wyclef posted this photo on twitter. The point of the photo is to show that he is in terrific physical condition. I feel the need to point that out just in case you missed that point in light of all the oil-slicked sheen, the Brazilian-cut undies, and the motorcycle-straddling.
Focus!

Read Wyclef’s statement…
Pay homage to the true father to this epic ass-bearing style…
And see why Wyclef is feeling defensive these days…
After the jump


the once and future king, MC Hammer “Pumps in a Bump” #neverforget

Now when Wyclef posted that bonkers b-day photo today, he also tweeted:

“TODAY I AM 43 YEARS OLD! I look And feel 26! U cant keep à good Man down! Keep à smile when they want you to frown!”

Credit is due for being in great shape. Strong pectoral muscle tone. But the tweet’s tone seems to be directed at the recent, and very damning, investigative report in the New York Times about the shuttering of Clef’s Yele Haiti charity. We all remember all the urging to text donations to Yele Haiti in the days and weeks after the terrible Haitian earthquake disaster. I chose to donate to Partners in Health and Mercy Corps because I’ve followed their work in past disaster areas like Japan’s post-tsunami destruction, the earthquake in China, and Hurricane Katrina.
But everyone’s heart was in the right place when they made all those text donations to Yele. And Wyclef has done many many things over the years to promote Haitian culture, and the issues of his native country.
It’s just disturbing to think that those Yele resources didn’t get properly dispensed or used. Given the bureaucratic mess of the Haitian government structure, it seemed that even veteran non-for-profits were roadblocked from helping the people in need. But if you read this article, in the New York Times, not some unsourced unaccountable “hater”….it definitely seems that the mis-use of millions of dollars went beyond just inexperience, or red-tape expenses, or even human error.

Portraying himself as persecuted like Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. Jean, 40, writes with indignation about insinuations that he had used his charity, Yéle, for personal gain. He says he did not need to — “I have a watch collection worth $500,000”— and that doubters will someday understand “Yéle is Haiti’s greatest asset and ally.”

But on his book tour for “Purpose: An Immigrant’s Story,” Mr. Jean, who made an aborted bid for the presidency of Haiti after the earthquake, neglects to mention two key facts: a continuing New York attorney general’s investigation has already found financial improprieties at Yéle, and the charity effectively went out of business last month, leaving a trail of debts, unfinished projects and broken promises.

“If I had depended on Yéle,” said Diaoly Estimé, whose orphanage features a wall painting of Mr. Jean and his wife, “these kids would all be dead by now.”

Even as Yéle is besieged by angry creditors, an examination of the charity indicates that millions in donations for earthquake victims went to its own offices, salaries, consultants’ fees and travel, to Mr. Jean’s brother-in-law for projects never realized, to materials for temporary houses never built and to accountants dealing with its legal troubles.

Read more of the specific details in the NYT’s “In Haiti, Little Can Be Found of a Hip-Hop Artist’s Charity.” And let us know what you think.

Clef has responded to the story by telling MTV News: “A hundred years from now facts will come out, so history will always be on my side…”

Related:
Wyclef Opens Up About the Lauryn Hill Affair That Broke Up The Fugees
 Wyclef And ‘Yele Haiti’ Presents: ‘Hours After The Quake’ (Documentary)
 Wyclef says he was “grazed” by bullet, but can’t speculate if he was targeted