Reggae Artist Major Mackerel Attacked… With a Sword

When someone comes at you with a sword, you know shit has gotten serious. And that’s exactly what happened to reggae musician Major Mackerel yesterday morning. It seems Mackerel, whose career peaked in the ’80s, got into a violent spat with 37-year-old Oscar Joseph in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood, where both parties live. When police showed up, they found Mackerel (real, embarrassing name: Garfield Dixon) “with lacerations to the head, arm and hand.” Then, they arrested Joseph and seized his two-foot-long weapon.

The incident began when Mackerel came home from buying cigarettes to find Joseph in the building’s foyer with a sword. It seems Joseph (who is really racking up the credibility) was defending his wife against Mackerel’s harassment. The two men fought, while Mackerel’s companion, Novia Watson, called the police. By the time they arrived, Mackerel already had “a deep slash across the palm of his left hand.” Mackerel is already home from the hospital, but there’s still a chance that he’ll need an operation to fully recover from the attack.

As sad and bizarre an occurrence as this was (although, as an incident at my alma mater shows, perhaps sword fights are becoming trendy?), it at least yielded the following priceless quote from Mackerel: “I was singing my song, then I see him with a sword.” We wish him a quick recovery… and we really hope he’ll write a fun dancehall track about all that went down.