Bunny Wailer

Neville 'Bunny Wailer' Livingston, the sole surviving member of the Wailers trio, says Bob Marley's widow, Rita Marley, should apologise for her recent claim that she was raped by the late reggae superstar.

"That to me is a disrespect and she owes the world, Bob Marley and their children and grandchildren, an apology," Bunny Wailer told the Observer.

Rita Marley

Rita Marley recently surprised many and caused consternation among many of Marley's fans when she was recently quoted on the rape claim in the British newspaper the Daily Mirror.

"Bob wouldn't take no for an answer... so he forced himself on me and I call that rape," Rita Marley was quoted as saying.

Bob Marley

But Rita Marley subsequently sought to soften the impact of her comment, suggesting the British newspaper did not fully reflect the context and nuance of her remarks and had made it seem that she had branded Marley a habitual rapist.

She said: "We spoke about my husband coming home after I hadn't seen him for a long time, 'cause you have to talk about the realities, and they wanted to know about Bob and the other women and how I took it.

"So there was a point where we were not having a good relationship because of it. So if I feel to say he hold me down and take it and I felt it was rape, I had a right to say it... But it wasn't the way they made it look, because he would be in jail if he had really raped me like a stranger. He wasn't a rapist."

But Bunny Wailer was apparently unmoved by the explanation of a woman whom he believed has benefited tremendously from Bob Marley's legacy and whose actions towards Marley he felt were sometimes less than pristine.
"He has left her and all the honours that she gets for being the wife of Bob Marley," Bunny Wailer said.

Bob Marley, a rastafarian whose music encapsulated an idea of third world and black liberation, died in 1981 and is as popular today as during his lifetime. He was awarded Jamaica's third highest national honour, the Order of Merit (OM), which ranks after the designation of national hero and the Order of the National (ON), which is reserved for governors-general and prime ministers.

Bunny Wailer, who with Marley and the late Peter Tosh was part of the Wailers group that became reggae music's first major stars, was concerned about the impact of Rita Marley's allegations on Marley's image and reputation as well as the psyche of the children Marley and Rita had together.
Several of Marley's children have followed him into music and other areas of entertainment.

Among them are Ziggy Marley, Stephen Marley (Rita's children), Damian "Junior Gong" Marley, Julian Marley, Kymani Marley and granddaughter Donisha Marley, a rising actress in the local theatre circle.

Said Bunny Wailer: "When it is said of Bob Marley (that he is) someone who would rape, especially coming from his wife, that's below the belt. That is the first blunder that Rita would have made in coming out to say something like that the after 23 years of Bob dying.

"It affects the children, it affects the grandchildren, because it's coming from the mother and the grandmother, saying that their father and grandfather did what she claims he did.

"They are going to be scared going into the public to present themselves as international stars carrying on the work of their father, for they know exactly what is on people's minds after what Mrs Marley said about her husband and their father and grandfather."

Not only was Bunny Wailer close to Marley as a colleague, but there was also a family connection. Bob Marley's mother had a child, Pearl Livingston, by Bunny Wailer's father.

Wailer, who has won three Grammy awards for his own music, went on: "What kind of satisfaction would Rita get from doing this, knowing that it is not going to look good on Bob?

"Why would she want (to taint) him . at a time when he is being treated as a saint - this individual who the world is now seeing as an icon, a prophet and a spiritual leader, because of the legacy that he has left us and the legacy that he has left her."

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