Viciously anti-gay performer Buju Banton has had his concerts in Columbus, OH, Cincinnati, OH and Minneapolis, MN canceled over the past few days, according to CancelBujuBanton.wetpaint.com, a website started by Gay Liberation Network webmaster Syd Stevens.
The cancellations come on the heels of shows nixed by AEG Live and Live Nation in Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas, LA, San Francisco and Philadelphia (the Philadelphia concert went ahead under different auspices).
Buju Banton grusomely calls for the killing of gay people in the lyrics of his most well-known song, "Boom Bye Bye." When Jamaica's leading gay rights activist, Brian Williamson, was murdered in an apparent hate crime murdered in 2004, a Human Rights Watch researcher who went to the murder scene reported that a mob had gathered and was celebrating the murder by chanting the chorus to "Boom Bye Bye."
CancelBujuBanton.wetpaint.com is urging LGBT people and our allies to contact the concert promoters in Cincinnati, Columbus and Minneapolis to thank them for not helping promote Buju Banton's violent hate:
Cincinnati – Annie's – events@anniesentertainment.com
Columbus – PromoWest Productions – feedback@promowestlive.com
Minneapolis – First Avenue – nate@first-avenue.com
In an article entitled "Concert canceled after gays' protest," The Columbus Dispatch reported Saturday that "Taking issue with some content in the singer's music, several groups -- including Equality Ohio and Stonewall Democrats of Ohio -- circulated an e-mail yesterday urging people to voice their disapproval and shut down the show." That and postings on the Columbusunderground.com local news site led to a flurry of communications that apparently prompted the cancellations.
A full listing of the cities still hosting Buju Banton concerts, along with contact information for the venues, can be found at www.CancelBujuBanton.wetpaint.com
The national campaign to cancel Buju Banton's 2009 tour was initiated by Chicago's Gay Liberation Network (www.GayLiberation.net) in early August and energetically taken up by the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center and other activists around the nation. The international campaign against so-called "murder music" was initiated in the early 1990s by British gay activist Peter Tatchell and Jamaica's leading LGBT group, Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG).
Dear Venue Operators:
We in Gay Liberation Network, Chicago, are appreciative that you have canceled performances of viciously antigay musician, Buju Banton.
There is no need to recount again the calls to murder gay men and lesbians contained in Banton's song, "Boom, Bye Bye," and the fact that he continues to sing the song in Jamaica and elsewhere where it has contributed to brutality against our people. Additionally, Banton first signed an agreement to not perform the song, then repudiated the agreement.
Again, thank-you for denying Banton a stage from which to profit from "murder music."
Bob Schwartz
Gay Liberation Network
Chicago
