An artist who performed at Monday’s reggae festival has
prompted complaints by members of the gay and lesbian community
over a song the artist wrote that advocated shooting gay men.
Buju Banton, the artist, wrote the song “Boom Bye
Bye” in 1992. His manager, Tracii McGregor, told organizers
of the UCLA JazzReggae Festival that he has since apologized for
its content. The song was not performed at the festival.
The lyrics to the controversial song include, “The world
is in trouble anytime Buju Banton come, batty boy get up and run, a
gunshot in the head man, tell them crew … it’s like boom
bye bye in a batty boy head, rude boy no promote no nasty man, them
hafi dead.”
In Jamaica, “batty boy” is slang for a gay man and
“rude boy” is slang for a “cool”
person.
Ronni Sanlo, director of the UCLA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Campus Resource Center, said she was dissatisfied with
the decision to bring Banton to campus.
“The controversy has created a teachable moment, so
perhaps in the future the producers (of the festival) will do more
research,” she said.
“The festival, overall, was outstanding,” she said.
The crowd was wonderful, very festive and happy.”
Todd Hawkins, executive producer of the festival, said
Banton’s past anti-gay lyrics were known before he was booked
for the event, but Banton’s managers told him the artist had
changed his opinion and apologized for writing the song.
“When we first booked the artist we discussed with his
manager and agent his anti-gay lyrics and feelings which appeared
in the early years of his career. Lately he has tried to redeem
himself by writing lyrics about peace and love,” said
Hawkins, former Undergraduate Students Association Council Cultural
Affairs commissioner.
“I would never bring someone to this university that would
express hate. I made clear to the manager, agent and artist that
hateful material would not be accepted on campus,” Hawkins
said.
Some members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
community point to an interview Banton did with the BBC on April
25, when he was unapologetic about the song.
“You can’t say to me I can’t (say that). …
It is my time to look you dead center in the eyes and say
“˜Who the hell are you talking to, boy?’ If you
don’t like it, don’t listen to it, because other
people, I’ll be certain, will,” he said.
Katina Parker, media manager for Communities of African Descent
for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, questioned the
depth of the research of the festival’s organizers.
“My understanding was that the commitment to all of the
different artists was made without investigating public opinion
about different issues, like homophobia, which attendees of the
festival might find offensive,” Parker said.
“It’s general practice to see if a band will be
offensive to its constituents,” she said.
“I attended the jazz festival (on Sunday) with my
girlfriend and saw a lot of out lesbians. I did not come Monday
because I could not support the message. … It’s a shame
because I think a lot of people I spoke with didn’t come for
the same reason,” Parker said.
Despite Banton’s apology, some members of the LGBT
community said they did not go to the event for fear of their
physical and mental safety, Parker said.
“I think his repentance would be fine if he hadn’t
shown recent anti-gay sentiments,” she said.