RYGIN King is apologising to fans, staff of the Sangster International Airport, and the Government for his outburst while being processed by health officials at the Montego Bay-based airport on Tuesday.

“We admit that the artiste did become a bit boisterous during an exchange with the airport authorities, but this was merely a result of the stress of the journey. At the time he landed in Jamaica, Rygin King had been travelling for 17 hours straight to make it to the island from Belgium via the Dominican Republic,” read a statement from the deejay’s management team.

“The stress of the arduous journey, coupled with the reality that the artiste had been forced to cut his tour abruptly, losing shows in Europe and Africa, and racking up significant financial losses created a potentially contentious situation. The artiste was then forced to wait four additional hours for processing. These factors may have led to frayed nerves, and for that, we apologise to the fans, the hard working airport staff and security, as well as the authorities. We respect the members of the hardworking staff at the airport who are working on the front lines trying to keep Jamaicans safe from the threat posed by the coronavirus,” the statement continued.

Europe is currently grappling with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Italy has reported 5,322 new cases, lifting its overall total to 41,035, which is half of China’s massive total, according to the health ministry’s latest report. The country’s 427 deaths raise its overall fatality number to 3,405, which tops China’s latest total of 3,245.

Jamaica has recorded one death and 19 people tested positive for the virus.

The artiste has exercised the option to self-quarantine for a period of 14 days.

“We respect the valiant efforts of the Government in trying to contain the virus because we have seen the first-hand media accounts in Europe. We would never deliberately put our fellow countrymen in danger, or cause disrespect to the prime minister or Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange, who have shown us a lot of respect,” the statement said.

Born Matthew Smith, Rygin King hails from Montego Bay, and has been pursuing music professionally since he left high school. Rygin King is known songs including How Mi Grow, Tuff and Things Gon Change.