Dancehall Queen

Carlene has come out in defence of her sweet potato pudding business after

being accused of copying philanthropist Aunty Donna.

In a video

that she shared on Friday, Carlene explained that she has been baking puddings

since her teenage years and went public with her skills in 2017 when she

started selling slices of the pastry at House of Dancehall.

However,

when the coronavirus pandemic forced many people in Jamaica to stay home, she

started selling whole puddings, especially because people had been asking for

it. This led to her brand, ‘Dancehall Queen Carlene Sweet Potato Pudding’.

READ: Yum, yum! Dancehall Queen Carlene now selling sweet potato puddings

It, therefore,

came as a shock to her when she started getting negative messages that she was copying

Aunty Donna, who also bakes puddings.

“Some of the

followers of Aunty Donna chose to disrespect me… I am not thin-skinned or

anything… 28 years I have been in the public eye, so I can stand whatever you

give to me, but I would really appreciate it if you would not come in my DM or

my Instagram page to discuss who I am following,” she said in the Instagram post.

“The cake is big enough for each of us to have a slice and have successful slice, and I don’t see why it should be a problem if I was following Aunty Donna because that’s a good step. She is a progressive, successful businesswoman and humanitarian who looks out for people.”

Carlene

stressed that her puddings are not free, so people can choose not the purchase

the ones she makes. She also said that neither she nor Aunty Donna invented

sweet potatoes puddings, as they were being made as far back as the days of slavery.

“I just want

to say to the player haters… If you taste my pudding and you don’t like it, that’s

OK. But if you’ve never had it and you choose to bash it, I think you’re player

hating,” she said.