Tourism authority discloses payments to US celebrity
Records of payments made by taxpayers to an American celebrity who was quietly appointed to the Bermuda Tourism Authority by David Burt, the Premier, have been made public.
The disclosure by the BTA shows that actor, model and entertainment reporter Terrence Jenkins received more than $25,000 in director’s fees between December 2020 and March 2022.
It also reveals payment for a $4,000 flight to the island from Los Angeles during a month when Mr Jenkins failed to attend the authority’s board meeting. The BTA claimed earlier that it had no records of travel payments for him.
Mr Jenkins, as previously revealed by The Royal Gazette, attended only four of 12 board meetings held by the BTA during his time on its board, although chairman Wayne Caines said he could rely on him for “advice and guidance on a few key matters”.
The list of payments includes $1,409 in board fees for the final quarter of 2020, during which Mr Jenkins attended one meeting, and $9,038 for the first six months of 2021, when he attended three.
Although he attended no meetings at all during the last six months of 2021, he received $10,046.
He also received $5,051 on March 31, 2022, after failing to attend the January meeting and quitting on March 4.
The BTA released the payment records almost two years after the Gazette requested them under public access to information, along with redacted minutes of meetings it previously insisted should remain secret.
It hired the law firm Carey Olsen to represent it after the newspaper asked Information Commissioner Gitanjali Gutierrez to review its response to the Pati request. The cost of those legal fees are not known.
The authority’s initial response to the Pati request said BTA board members were paid a fixed annual fee of $20,000 and this had already been reported on.
It said it searched for records "showing any payments made by the BTA for travel for and on behalf of Terrence Jenkins“ and confirmed it had none.
The BTA's information officer refused to release board meeting minutes for August 2020 to February 2022, describing the request for them as “particularly broad and onerous”.
The officer offered to consider sharing meeting attendance figures for board members for that 18-month period if the Gazette agreed to narrow the scope of its Pati application.
Mr Caines disclosed the attendance figures in June 2022, revealing that Mr Jenkins — also known as Terrence J — attended conference call meetings in November 2020 and January, March and April 2021.
He missed eight other meetings while on the board, including a conference call on February 22, 2021. The new disclosure shows the BTA paid for a $3,966 flight for him from Los Angeles on February 11, 2021.
During Ms Gutierrez’s review, the authority collated the directors’ fees paid to Mr Jenkins and, after its lawyers met the ICO in November last year, searched again for other records, discovering the payment for the airline ticket in the process.
It also reconsidered its position on the meeting minutes and shared minutes of 14 board meetings with The Royal Gazette in December.
The meetings took place at 9am, which would have been 5am in California, where Mr Jenkins lived.
He was mentioned in the minutes of two of the four meetings he attended, in relation to film tourism and influencer marketing.
Bermuda Tourism Authority chairman Wayne Caines hoped to tap into Terrence Jenkins’s experience and contacts in the film industry to help promote the island.
Minutes of the first board meeting attended by Mr Jenkins after he was appointed by the Premier include a suggestion by Mr Caines for the authority’s director of PR and content development to liaise with him to “discuss some additional prospects for film tourism".
The telephone conference call meeting took place in November 2020.
Mr Jenkins, an actor and model with millions of followers on social media, attended just three other meetings, all conference calls, during his 16-month stint on the quango’s board.
At the March 2021 meeting, he joined partway through the session.
The minutes record that the BTA’s interim chief executive, Glenn Jones, said that the authority was working with the Government to “reignite film tourism and build awareness among television, film and advertising productions while creating friendlier policies that made the island more attractive to this sector”.
Mr Caines suggested that the authority “get Mr Jenkins to assist them with development of this strategy since he had a strong background in the film and entertainment industry”.
The minutes note: “Mr Jenkins advised the board that he had been in contact with Mr Jones and provided a summation of their discussions on influencer marketing.
“He said that there were a number of potential opportunities that were being explored. However, the biggest challenge with implementation was the limited air service to and from the island.
“The chairman suggested that more details on these opportunities be presented to the board.”
There is no mention of Mr Jenkins in the minutes for the January and April 2021 meetings, and he did not attend any other board meetings that year. He quit in March 2022.
The authority blacked out large sections of the minutes, citing exemptions under the Pati Act, including that the records contain the deliberations of a public authority. The Royal Gazette has challenged the redactions on the grounds it is in the public interest to release the material.
Mr Jenkins attended the Dream Weekend in Bermuda in the summer of 2018.
The Government used leftover cash from the 2017 America's Cup to pay a US company to organise the event, which involved a string of Cup Match parties for social media celebrities and influencers.
Two years later, Mr Burt, while responsible for tourism, appointed Mr Jenkins to the BTA board.
The Royal Gazette’s Pati request asked for any press release or public statement issued by the BTA about the appointment. The initial response was a refusal on the grounds that the information “would, by its nature, be reasonably accessible to the public”.
Mr Gutierrez wrote in her decision that the authority “abandoned its reliance” on those grounds last October.
She said: “The BTA explained instead that, pursuant to Section 4 of the Bermuda Tourism Authority Act 2013, it is the responsibility of the minister to publish a Gazette Notice relating to the appointment and it confirmed that the BTA’s communications team had not published any press release or public statement relating to the appointment.”
No record of a notice being published by Mr Burt could be found in the Official Gazette.
BTA board members are appointed for three years, so Mr Jenkins, a former BET host with 3.1 million Instagram followers, should have sat on the authority until 2023.
The authority revealed in response to questions that the celebrity quit in March 2022, owing to “timing of the meetings and demands on his schedule”. He had not attended seven consecutive BTA board meetings held between May 2021 and January 2022.
“Bermuda has dedicated substantial funds to traditional advertising for an extended period, yielding minimal return on investment,” Mr Burt said in response to questions from The Royal Gazette.
“It became apparent that a different approach was necessary; sticking to conventional methods did not produce the desired results.
“We needed to adopt a different tourism strategy, led by a clearly defined events strategy that includes the worlds of film, fashion, food and art and incorporates celebrities to attract private sector sponsors for collaborative investments and brand development.
“We need to heighten the significance of our brand in key markets. Mr Jenkins was part of this strategy, and while a member of the Tourism Board, he shared valuable insights, particularly in crucial markets that we hadn’t fully explored previously. His diversity on our Tourism Board was essential, and Bermuda benefited from his background and perspectives.
“A significant consideration mitigating against Mr Jenkins's continued service on the board was the constant negative media attention received in Bermuda. Mr Jenkins continues to promote competing jurisdictions with no issues like the ones created by the hostile press in Bermuda.
“His participation and engagement are welcomed elsewhere where the success of tourism is a national imperative, supported by all stakeholders, including the media.”
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