LOS ANGELES - Under pressure from the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, concert promoter monoliths LiveNation and AEG Live have each canceled upcoming concerts by Jamaican dancehall artist Buju Banton, including the AEG promoted October 14 date at Club Nokia. The artist, who has been decried for his homophobic lyrics, has long drawn the ire of gay rights activists for his invectives, and for the past decade the singer has attempted, to no avail, to make peace with his foes by repudiating his lyrics.
The LA Times scooped us on this this morning, but didn't offer a video clip of the Banton song that started the whole thing: the shockingly explicit "Boom Bye Bye" from 1992. Writes Pop & Hiss's August Brown of the song:
Banton, the popular Jamaican dance-hall singer, has drawn the ire of gay activist groups for years, in large part because of the violently homophobic lyrics of his 1992 single "Boom Bye Bye," which proposes pouring acid on homosexuals and shooting them in the head.
In a press release this morning, LA Gay & Lesbian Center CEO Lorri L. Jean had this to say: "I hope this victory sends a deafeningly loud message to other promoters and concert venues that singers who glorify violence against LGBT people, or any group of people, should never be welcomed. It shouldn't be necessary for us to pressure promoters to do the right thing; people like Banton should never have been booked in the first place."
from LA Weekly
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