Bookmarks - Internet stuff: Buju Banton

Global Voices gathers Jamaican (and other) reactions to Buju Banton's mistrial:

Repeating Islands reposts a mainstream media report confirming that the star's U.S. drug trial is the talk of Jamaica, “where islanders are debating his guilt or innocence on street corners, in offices, in letters to the editor and on social networking websites.” There is no doubt the singer has mobilised strong support from his fan base - there is even a website that has been set up to advocate for his freedom. Many conspiracy theories are floating around, including one claiming that Banton was set up by members of the international gay community as payback for his homophobic lyrics in past songs. (Banton signed a pledge a few years ago to desist from singing such songs again).

Ah, yes, that well-known international gay community and their dirty tricks squad.

Grammys 2010: GLAAD not happy about Buju

As if it wasn't bad enough for Buju Banton, still in a Florida jail on drugs charges, he's continuing to be the focus of protests over his homophobia. Seemingly unimpressed by Banton's awkward 'standing near some gay people' photo op from last year, GLAAD have taken out ads complaining about his nomination for the Grammy Awards:

In an advert in Hollywood show business paper Daily Variety, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center urged Grammy organizers to use Sunday's televised ceremony to denounce music "that promotes or celebrates violence against any group of people."

Interestingly, GLAAD don't seem at all bothered about the victimisation of polka music fans. Selective consciences.

Buju Banton locked up in Miami

It must be frustrating for Buju Banton - all that time shaking hands with gays, trying to convince people that he's not really as homophobic as his gay-hating music makes him seem, and what happens when he finally turns up in America to play some gigs?

He's arrested on drugs charges and thrown in the slammer.

The Floridian authorities are linking him to five kilos of cocaine, with intent to supply. Let's hope Buju has a plausible explanation, or he might be finding more time to explore how he feels about close personal contact with other men.

Buju meets some gays; manages to not shoot them

In an ongoing bid to try and rebuild his international career after people noticed what he was actually singing, Buju Banton has had a meeting with gay people in the US. Banton's planned US tour had been suffering under the weight of calls for a boycott, and this was an attempt to try and offset that.

Michael Petrelis was one of those taking part in the awkward meeting. He got a taste of why Buju is struggling to balance messages to his Jamaican fanbase with the need to not have protests outside his US concerts:

As I expected once it became public knowledge that I was part of a crew of gay advocates that meet with a homo-hating Jamaican singer, I received messages from straight Jamaicans claiming to be Jesus-loving Christians, who then proceeded to condemn me for daring to call for the singer to say these three words in a public forum in Kingston: Love gay people.

It's going to be virtually impossible to get Buju to say that. And even if you can, there's still his fanbase to deal with. I'm not sure there's much to be gained in an awkward photo-op between the two sides, for either side.

Buju signs piece of paper

Buju Banton has made at least some gay rights campaigners happy by signing a pledge to stop peforming tracks which call for the murder of homosexuals.

Not everyone's delighted, though:

Vincent Nap, a British-based reggae artist, said there was a problem of homophobia in dancehall music, but attacking artists' commercial interests would not solve the issue. "If they keep attacking us, we will fight back," he said. "If they try to stop our music we are going to have to defend ourselves."

Presumably Nap didn't mean to make his comments sound quite so menacing, although when you're defending the right of people to sing about shooting gay men, it's probably hard not to sound a little aggressive.

Others suggest that this might be the least meaningful piece of paper since Munich:

Mark Richards, known as DJ Kemist from reggae label Xtremix records, said: "I can see why he's done it. He doesn't want to jeopardise his whole career over just a few songs. But it doesn't mean it's going to change any of his opinions."

Which is the problem - you want Banton to not perform hateful incitements to crime because it's wrong, not because he's signed some pledge to allow him to do tours of the UK.

It's hard to see why a man who performed a song about pouring acid on gay men last year would necessarily treat a career-salvaging contract with representatives of a gay pressure group as a binding agreement, anyway. What happens if he breaks his word?

Carnival FM "loses" tapes of call for gay slaughter

Short-term licence station [Notting Hill] Carnival FM has received a ticking off from Ofcom [pdf] following complaints that it played Boom Bye Bye during its last period on the air. When asked by the regulator to supply tapes of the incident, they replied they had had "problems" with their logging and were unable to comply.

Ofcom therefore decided it was unable to tell if they had played a record calling for the murder of gay men, but scolded the management for not being able to supply tapes.

We're not sure why Ofcom didn't just ask "did you play this record" - or why, in cases like this where the broadcaster can't supply evidence, they just don't accept the complainant's claim on the basis that the radio station has failed to offer a defence?