LA Gay Center, GLAAD Protest Buju Banton Grammy Nod

Jamaica's Buju Banton, the reggae artist whose anti-gay anthem "Boom Bye Bye" drew protesters and led to a number of canceled concert dates across the United States during his latest tour, has been nominated for a Grammy. The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center has issued a statement denouncing the nomination.

"We're shocked that Buju Banton, a singer with a long record of performing a song that glorifies the murder of gay people, would be honored with a Grammy nomination, regardless of the artistic merit of any of his work," said Jim Key, the Center's Chief Public Affairs Officer.

A release from the Center noted that, "Throughout his career, Banton has performed music that promotes a culture of violence against lesbian and gay people; he sings in 'Boom, Bye Bye' that 'faggots get up and run' when he comes, that 'they have to die,' and that he will shoot them in the head or 'burn them up bad.'

"He is completely unrepentant," the release continues, noting that Banton "refuses to stop performing the song, and recently said, 'There is no end to the war between me and faggots.'"

As recently as October, Banton met with GLBT equality advocates, who had asked him to stop performing the song and to speak out for gay rights in Jamaica, a nation that has gained a reputation for violent homophobia. Banton reportedly signed a pact along with other musicians renouncing violent content in songs, but later denied having participated in that pact. Banton also reportedly was part of a group of men that broke into the home of a gay Jamaican man and were arrested. Banton was later acquitted.

An Oct. 17 blog posting at The Petrelis Files reported that four San Francisco-area GLBTs met with Banton during a 40-minute sit-down that Banton's people said was the first face-to-face conversation the singer had engaged in with gays.

Petrelis reported that the Banton camp expressed a desire to end the acrimony between Banton and protesters who had made his latest American tour so difficult.

Petrelis noted that he, San Francisco Gay Community Center executive director Rebecca Rolfe, Equality California's Andrea Shorter, and San Francisco city Supervisor Bevan Dufty were in attendance, as was heterosexual city Supervisor Eric Mar, music company president Tracii McGregor, and Banton himself.

Petrelis described the meeting as "very civil and productive," although the suggestions offered to Banton for repairing relations with the GLBT community--such as donating money to GLBT Jamaican group JFLAG, or performing a song about gays with a positive message--were turned down.

Banton's label reportedly sent out a statement explaining that Banton was 15 when he wrote the song, and saying that it was not a generalized advocacy of violence toward gays, but rather a response to a specific incident in which an older man raped a youth. But "Boom Bye Bye" has been embraced as an anti-gay anthem, and is credited with fueling Jamaica's streak of murder and violence targeting gays. Noted the L.S. Gay & Lesbian Center in its statement, "Banton's music has helped foster such an anti-gay culture in his home country of Jamaica-where several prominent gay activists and many other LGBT people have been murdered-that Time magazine recently asked, 'Is Jamaica the most homophobic place on Earth?'"

Media watchdog group The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation reported that the nomination is for best reggae album for Banton's CD Rasta Got Soul, the recording Banton was touring to promote this year. "While we are disappointed that the Recording Academy has chosen to honor Banton's album, 'Rasta Got Soul,' with a nomination the highest honor in music, we are hopeful that the Grammy voters will chose to bestow the Grammy for Best Reggae Album on one of the other nominees who manage to record reggae that does not condone hate," a blog entry at the GLAAD Web site read.

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center expressed similar sentiments in its release. "It's an affront to LGBT people, and to all fair-minded people around the world, that Buju Banton was even nominated," the Center's statement read. "We certainly hope the members of the Recording Academy will not bestow the prestigious honor of a Grammy on someone whose music promotes murder."