Six More U.S. Venues Cancel On 'Kill Gays' Artist

While the NORVA Theater in Norfolk, Virginia, has yet to do the right thing and and cancel Buju Banton's scheduled appearance on September 25, 2009, additional venues in other cities have cancel appearances of the "kill gays" performer. GLBTLive is planning a protest against Banton's appearance at the NORVA which will hopefully generate some Media coverage not flattering to the NORVA if it persists in providing a venue to hate speech such as Banton's. I will be at the NORVA tonight to support Margaret Cho and will have literature with me condemning Banton's appearance. The owners of the NORVA have always been known to be out to make a buck, but I doubt the theater would host a performer who advocated the murder of blacks or Jews. Here are some highlights from On Top Magazine on other cancellations:

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Amid increasingly boisterous protests from gay rights groups, six additional tour dates by controversial Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton have been canceled, whittling down his U.S. tour considerably. Last month, gay activists managed to shut down six shows. Cancellations at four House of Blues venues joined scrapped appearances in San Francisco, at the Regency Ballroom, and Los Angeles, at Club Nokia. The tour's first performance at the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia was greeted with a loud protest last week.

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“We condemn this hate speech and his call to violence against gays and lesbians, and we also condemn the exploitation of our community in song for profit,” said Thom Cardwell, a board member of the Gittings Trust, a Philadelphia-based gay rights group.

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Banton's 1992 hit Boom Bye Bye advocates for the murder of gay men by shooting them in the head with a submachine gun and pouring acid on them to “burn him up bad like an old tire wheel.” Banton has dismissed the controversy, saying he penned the lyrics when he was “a child” of 15. But the thirty-six-year-old reggae artists has never repudiated the lyrics and continues to perform the song.

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In Salt Lake City, pressure from gay activists closed down a scheduled October 8 performance at Urban Lounge, a downtown venue. “When initially scheduling the Buju Banton event, we were unaware of his hateful anti-gay message,” Will Sartain, co-owner of the club, said in a statement. “Upon further review, Urban Lounge has decided to cancel the event. We strive for peace and understanding in our community. We support the rights of all. We have made this decision on moral grounds.”

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Will the NORVA do the right thing and cancel Banton's appearance? Time will tell.