Beenie Man concert axed over homophobia fears

A London nightclub cancelled a concert last night by the Jamaican reggae artist Beenie Man after officers from Scotland Yard stopped him at Heathrow airport to discuss his allegedly homophobic lyrics. The singer, real name Anthony Davis, had flown to London as part of a European tour.

He is one of the biggest stars of the dancehall genre but he has attracted increasing criticism from human rights campaigners who claim that songs such as Bad Man Chi Chi [Queer] Man incite the murder of gay men.

Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll, head of the racial and violent crime taskforce for the Metropolitan police, met Beenie Man on his arrival in London after being contacted by Outrage!, the gay rights group.

"The advice of the Crown Prosecution Service is that it doesn't believe, on the evidence of the lyrics presented to them, that offences have been committed," said Mr Driscoll.

"However, it did point out that our duty [as police officers] is to protect people. As a result of that, I spoke to Beenie Man asking him not to sing lyrics which were homophobic or promoted violence. He was extremely reasonable."

Mr Driscoll said he did not offer any advice to Ocean, merely alerting the club to the OutRage! concerns.

But in a statement, the Hackney venue said it cancelled the concert "due to concerns for public safety and following discussions with the Metropolitan police".

It added: "Jamaican music has a special place in British culture and even more so in Hackney and at Ocean. We maintain a commitment to Jamaican music and will continue to try to book the most exciting and cutting edge artists from the islands."

Mr Driscoll said his meeting was part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged incitement of violence by dancehall stars. "We do have a massive obligation to protect people and if people are frightened that cannot be right. But we do not want to interfere with freedom of speech," he said.

Sarah Green, spokeswoman for Amnesty International, which is campaigning against homophobia in Jamaica, said: "We are very concerned that hateful lyrics have helped to create a culture and atmosphere of violence."

Only a fortnight ago a prominent gay rights activist was hacked to death in Kingston. OutRage! also fears that homophobic lyrics are encouraging attacks in the UK.

Beenie Man's record label, Virgin, said it would bring him back to the UK to perform.

What the hell are "officers" of the law doing harassing this guy over the lyrics to his music. Are British police so P.C. that they are actually now leaning on people whom they deem to be offensive to their ideologies?

Doesn't this rapper have the same right (in a supposedly free nation like Great Britain) to express his opinions about these issues? What about the hate speech leveled at conservatives each day from militant gay-rights advocates ?
If they have the right to Freedom of Speech, why not us?

The Leftist assault on basic human rights marches on, largely unabated, and it's these kinds of filthy, jackbooted pigs that give their whole police force a bad name.

It's not censorship when a club decides not to put on an entertainer who doesn't like gays, even if the decision is made at the last minute. The club is a private venue, not a government agency.

But is it censorship if the decision is made after the police, most definitely a government agency, lean on the club? That seems to be what happened here.

I don't think my musical tastes stretch to whatever kind of sound this Beenie Man makes, but I think he and his fans got [rude expression for a gay act of passion censored] here.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

A queer walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Hey, son. We dont allow queers in this bar."

The queer says, "I need a drink really bad, honey. I'll sit in the very back and be very quiet!"

The bartender thinks for a while, and says, "Alright. Only ONE drink." The queer takes the glass of beer and sits in the dark courner of the bar. Suddenly, a cowboy walks in with snakeskin boots and a cowskin cowboy hat.

He walks up to the bartender and says, "I'm so thirsty, I could lick the sweat off the balls of a cow!"

The queer looks up uncertainly and yells across the bar, "Moo, Moo, Buckaroo!"

The bartender is taken to court two days later for letting a half-baked drunk queer in the bar.

Barney (not the purple dinosaur)

There is a guy named Barney, and one day he’s talking with one of his friends and he says “man I’m bored, I know everyone and have seen everything” His friend says “ come on, You don’t know everybody”

Barney says, “O.K. pick someone”

The friend says, “Paul Newman, You don’t know him”

Barney says “sure do, used to hang with him on the movie sets and at the races. Let’s go see him”

So they hop on a plane and fly to see Paul, catch a taxi from the airport and knock on the door at Paul’s house. The butler answers the door and Barney asks to see Paul. The butler says, “I’m sorry sir he’s having a private party and you must have an invitation” Barney says, “just tell him that it’s Barney”

“O.K. sir just a moment”, after a few minutes here comes the butler and let’s them in. Well of course Barney knows everybody else at the party too. After the party is over they get back to the airport and the friend says “not bad but you still don’t know everybody”

Barney says, “Pick somebody else” The friend says, “Pres. Reagan, you don’t know him”

Barney says “sure, no problem, we played golf for years” and they fly to D.C. and go to the White House. At the gate the guard stops them and Barney says “ we’re here to see the President” the guard says “Sorry Sir, but He’s in the middle of Mid-east peace talks and can’t be bothered right now” Barney says “just tell him it’s Barney” The guard says “wait here please”
And goes to the shack and gets on the phone. A few minutes later the guard answers the phone and then walks back out to the gate, opens it and waves them in. At the meeting Barney naturally knows everybody and solves the problem, has lunch and then they all leave.

The friend says “not bad but you still don’t know everybody”

Barney says “O.K. pick anybody in the whole world”

The friend says” The Pope, You don’t know the Pope”

Barney says “O.K. let’s go” and they hop on a plane and jet over to the Vatican, it’s fixing to be the Saturday Mass and Barney says “O.K. you stay here, I’m going to go inside and come out on the balcony and assist the Pope with Mass and I’ll meet you back here after Mass is over”

The friend says “O.K”

Off goes Barney and sure enough a little while later here comes Barney and the Pope and performs the Mass. After it’s over the friend is waiting for Barney and finally He shows back up and says, “Well now do you believe me?”

The friend says “well I wasn’t impressed until the guy next to me elbowed me in the ribs and asked me”…
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“Who’s the guy in the beanie next to Barney?”

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