By GottaLaff
You know, I was just sitting here telling myself, Self? I said, what we haven't had enough of lately is hate speech. Where the heck is some good ol' down home bigotry when you need it? And before I could answer myself, look what Paddy sent along:
Several gay-rights groups are protesting a Halloween-night concert at a city of Miami-owned hall by Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton, whose hit song "Boom Bye Bye" advocates shooting gays in the head and setting them on fire.
"The message is that gay people's lives are cheap, and that harming gay people is OK," said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, a statewide gay-rights group calling for the concert to be canceled. "Any time a message of violence and hatred against any group is put out there, it has to be challenged."
[...] His South Florida promoter, Andrew Minott of Global Vybz Entertainment, says Banton, 36, stopped singing "Boom Bye Bye" years ago. [...]
A YouTube video, however, shows Banton singing "Boom Bye Bye" during a May 2006 concert at Bicentennial Park in downtown Miami.
If Glenn Blech shows up on the Tee Vee Machine years from now, he'll still be Glenn Blech.
Minott:
"It's a dance hall phrase, 'Let's murder him. Murder the boy over there,'" Minott said. "It's not literal. It's figurative."
So, using Minott's own logic, if I say F you to someone, that's figurative too, right? It's certainly not literal, because, see, it's a physical impossibility. Okay, Andrew, what I'm really saying is, that argument sucks.
But hey, I'll try to be open-minded. Maybe Banton's sharing the bill with someone who will suffice as a sort of counter balance, something to soothe the resentment, someone who can calm the waters a little:
Scheduled to share the bill with Banton: Beenie Man, whose song titles include "(Batty Man Fi Dead) Queers must be killed."Or not.
UPDATE: Looks like Tallahassee succeeded in petitioning him right off that stage he likes to share. (H/t: WeeLaura)
.jpg)