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Uploaded: Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 10:37 AM
CHAC gets venue to cancel controversial act
Nonprofit's members tell San Jose club that Buju Banton's lyrics are homophobic
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by Kelsey Mesher
Mountain View Voice Staff
A reggae-rap show scheduled for Tuesday night at San Jose's Voodoo Lounge was canceled last week after the owners received calls from various community members, including from Mountain View's Community Health Awareness Council, explaining that the performer, Buju Banton, promotes violence and homophobia.
Buju Banton is infamous in the gay community for his lyrics. Among his songs, "Boom Bye Bye" is one of the best known for its lyrics promoting the torture and murder of gay men.
According to Eileen Ross, director of Outlet, an LGBT youth group based at CHAC, several staff members and interns made personal calls after hearing about the show.
"The owners of the Voodoo Lounge were not aware of the performer's background," said club representative Dustin DeRollo. "After seeing the lyrics from the group they were just as offended."
"It shows a little bit of the community getting together," Ross said. "Folks saying this is not OK. It's good -- I give the Voodoo Lounge props."
"His lyrics are really intense," she said. "If it were any other minority group there is just no way they would have somebody play."
"We sincerely apologize to the members of the gay, lesbian and transgender community for any pain the scheduling of this performance has caused," said Voodoo Lounge co-owner David Powell in a press release. "Our ownership team did not know the content of Banton's lyrics. If we had known, we would not have scheduled this performance."
Banton's shows have reportedly been canceled in several other cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston, because of the efforts of a Facebook campaign by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.
It has been claimed in the past that though his lyrics can be egregiously offensive in America, in Baton's native Jamaica it has been culturally more acceptable to be openly homophobic. In 2006 an article in Time Magazine called the country "the most homophobic place on earth."Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by USA, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Oct 13, 2009 at 2:25 pm
USA is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Voice This is yet another sign that we have lost our way. There are countless venues in the area that play rap and other music that glorifies violence, gangs, misogyny, killing those who “dis” you, rape and other forms of violence against women, substance abuse, and ignorance. We ignore them, excuse on them on First Amendment grounds, or even promote them. But, if it we say anything bad about gays, that pesky old First Amendment hits the dirt.
Since Kelsey was kind enough to provide a link to the pro-gay website, you only have to Google “snoop dogg lyrics”. Compare those results with Boom Bye Bye lyrics. Is there really any difference between killing a gay and killing a woman who won’t “put out” or a guy who is wearing the wrong color shirt?
Before the PC police get all bent out of shape – no I am no promoting violence against gays. We should guide our actions based on common decency and a understanding of right and wrong, not on populist politics.
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Posted by Kathy, a resident of the Sylvan Park neighborhood, on Oct 13, 2009 at 3:37 pm To USA....I agree with you that we should "guide our actions based on common decency and a understanding of right and wrong, not on populist politics". Speaking up against hateful language is not being PC in my book, it is called doing the right thing. It is unfortunate that all of us do not voice opposition to the likes of Snoop Dog and his sorry excuse for entertainment. Kudos to the gay community for raising awareness and to the Voodoo Lounge for listening.
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Posted by Ned, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Oct 13, 2009 at 4:55 pm What's next, are the going to outlaw the Catholic Church?
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Posted by USA, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Oct 13, 2009 at 5:06 pm
USA is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Voice Kathy -- agreed, but the problem is what constitutes "hate speech". That issue is where we have gotten off track. Snoop Dogg is "Free Speech". Buju Banton is "hate speech".
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Posted by SamK, a resident of another community, on Oct 13, 2009 at 7:49 pm Buju Banton's infamous song "Boom Bye Bye" says "gays must be killed' and it calls for gays to be shot in the head, shot with an Uzi, have acid thrown on them and be burned like an old tire. This song has been controversial since it was released in 1992.
In all those years, Buju Banton has never distanced himself from this song.
On YouTube videos, Buju Banton has reiterated his support for his call to "kill gays" that are in the 1992 song. He continues to perform segments of the song.
For lots of information see Web Link
and Web Link
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Posted by Old Ben, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Oct 13, 2009 at 10:40 pm I remember when Buju Banton first came around, in the early 1990s. It struck me as rather ironic, a black man endorsing lynch law.
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Posted by USA, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Oct 14, 2009 at 9:13 am
USA is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Voice ... and yet apparently he still has a following in this country in 2009. Heck, even Snoop Dogg is a spokesman for AT&T.
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