Buju Banton removes offending songs from scheduled concert date

Posted: 17th Oct 2009

Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton gained recognition and a hit 21 years ago with a song called “Boom, Bye Bye” which praises the murder of homosexuals and with recent pressure of the Gay community it has now threatened 86 of the planned Banton’s concerts.

Banton has been touring locations in the U.S. recently with “Boom, Bye Bye” and other songs. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community activists pushed for the cancellation of Banton`s shows scheduled for various dates across the U.S.

Promoters have been flooded with calls and e-mails from concerned citizens, gay activists insist the singer promotes a culture of violence against gay people and continue to point to his `Boom, Bye Bye` song as proof.

Banton has had concerts cancelled in many of the U.S states and the singer insisted in a statement this week “he does not condone violence of any kind and slammed activists for judging his entire musical repertoire by one song.”

Buju Banton has finally decided to face his critics, this week he met with members of the gay community.

“The three-time Grammy nominee was honest and open enough to relax some nerves, at the very least. He noted that he's permanently stripped "Boom Bye Bye" from his set lists and that he founded Operation Willy, an organization that promotes safe sex to help fight AIDS. That alone showed common ground between the two camps, but the LGBT community members said they are now hopeful that they can work together with Banton to help address issues that affect both the gay and reggae communities.”

Reggae music is still under pressure to denounce anti-gay lyrics from artists and the Reggae Compassionate Act was created in 2007 by the Canadian-based Stop Murder Music campaign. Artists would then not perform songs promoting violence — especially toward the gay community.

Written By: Nadia Auckburally