CHARLESTON, S.C. — A performance venue and promotions company has canceled a scheduled concert by anti-gay Reggae singer Buju Banton.
The Music Farm’s and All-In Entertainment’s announcement came just one day after the Alliance for Full Acceptance (AFFA) urged their members to contact owner Marshall Lowe regarding the singer.
“It is unimaginable that any business supported by the people of Charleston SC would pay someone and literally give him a stage for hate speech,” AFFA said in an email to members. “Is that the reputation the Music Farm wants? Is that the kind of business you would support? Violence against gay and lesbian people may be “nothing new” to some corners of Jamaican reggae music. It doesn’t belong here.”
Banton’s “Boom Bye Bye” contains lyrics about shooting gay men in the head and burning their bodies.
“Neither, All-In Entertainment or the Music Farm, were aware of this song and the suggestions that it makes,” Lowe said in a statement emailed to media. “While we do believe in first amendment rights, we do not feel this artist projects the image that All-In Entertainment and The Music Farm have spent years building. We feel it is in the best interest of our fans, friends and the community as a whole to cancel this performance.”
Refunds will be given to those who already purchased tickets.
Banton has faced several recent concert cancellations in several cities including, Orlando, Tampa, Chicago, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston.
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I am very happy that good sense prevails once again. Buju Banton has no place in a civilized time. His message of hate and the bashing of gay persons must never be allowed to echo. It is one thing for a musician to sing anti-gay lyrics, but to also engage in the physical attack of gays is another thing. Some may not know this but Buju was involved in the brutal attack of a gay man, which I believe, left him blind. However, thanks to the double-standard of a corrupt justice system, he got off with mere slap on the wrist!
Those of us who believe in rights of all humans cannot allow such actions to go unnoticed, or to give Buju an award for his crime against humanity.
For many years now the gay community has been calling to him to make a formal apology, yet he refuses to. If he is truly regretful of that song and his actions, he would be writing songs geared towards his fellow colleagues in the music industry, teaching them to stop with the hateful lyrics, and instead sing about peace and love!
Comment by Putt — October 3, 2009 @ 4:28 pm
I wonder if his recently scheduled concert at Amos South End in Charlotte was cancelled also? Does anyone know? If it went on as planned, I suggest we boycott Amos’s.
Comment by Jeff — October 6, 2009 @ 5:53 pm
For some information on Buju Banton and other anti-LGBT reggae/dancehall artistes see http://cancelbujubanton.wetpaint.com/
and http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/09/Oct/0701.htm
Comment by SamK — October 9, 2009 @ 4:14 am