Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Buju Banton Remains in a Federal Lockup

UPDATED: As might be expected, I've received some nasty anonymous comments from some of Banton delusional fans. I guess they can't accept the reality that their idol has feet of clay. In keeping with my policy on anonymous personal attack comments, none will be published.
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As gay hater Buju Banton (real name is Mark Anthony Myrie) cools his heels in a federal lock up, his delusional fans grasp for any explanation for his arrest - e.g., it was a set up, etc. - rather than admit that the guy is a nasty piece of work and an all in all dirt bag. Given the facts available to date, it appears that Banton - besides being a gay hater - is a arrogant, pompous ass who believed he was above the rules for everyone else. Personally, nothing would make me happier than seeing him spend 20 years in a federal penitentiary. It would certainly give him plenty of time to rethink his homophobia. Here are some highlights from today's Miami Herald:
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As news of the drug arrest of Jamaican artist Buju Banton rocked the reggae world and burned up U.S. urban blogs, one word described the reaction in Miami and his Caribbean homeland: Shock. ``Everybody's surprised, everybody's saying it's got to be a set-up,'' said dancehall reggae artist Red Rat, who collaborated with Banton on the 1997 reggae hit Love Dem Bad. ``We don't know Buju as that type of person,'' Rat, who splits his time between Miami and Jamaica, told The Miami Herald.
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Boom Bye Bye is viewed by gay-rights advocates as an anti-gay anthem because of its lyrics advocating shooting gays in the head and setting them on fire. It made and continues to make Buju Banton a target of protests by gays and lesbians who as recently as this month ratched up their protests against the artist after the Grammy announced his latest album, Rasta Got Soul, was nominated for Best Reggae Album.
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On Monday, in South Florida and Jamaica, callers burned up radio airwaves, calling the arrest a ``conspiracy'' to get him after his recent controversy that included protests by local gay-rights advocates over a Halloween concert in downtown Miami. . . . In Jamaica, people clamored for details of the arrest, decrying it on radio and on street corners.
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Banton was arrested at his home in Tamarac on Thursday, three days after he allegedly spoke with a confidential source about traveling to Sarasota to obtain ``kilogram amounts of cocaine,'' according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court.
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The complaint said that at about 12:45 p.m. Dec. 8, Banton and a woman entered La Tropicana de Havana restaurant to meet with a confidential source. He was later joined by Ian Thomas, also arrested and charged. The negotiations was taped.
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Later at a police-controlled warehouse, Banton was handed a knife and ``instantly wiped the blade of the knife with his finger and placed that finger into his mouth in what appeared to be an attempt to taste the cocaine. After viewing the cocaine, Myrie and Thomas continue to negotiate with the [confidential source] for them to obtain multiple kilograms of cocaine.''
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Two days later, Thomas was arrested along with James Mack, aka Spencer Clarke, at the same warehouse after they arrived with money to purchase seven kilograms of cocaine.
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``Conservatively speaking, we're looking in the 20- to 30-year range,'' said David P. Rowe, a criminal defense lawyer in Broward, who has been contacted about representing Banton. ``I think a plea bargain, if he has information, might be a good course of action.
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Would that we gays had the power to orchestrate a set up that flawless. Sorry folks, but that doesn't sound like a set up to me. With luck, Banton will do some prison time and perhaps even get to be some one's bitch. Now, that would be karma biting him in the ass big time. Oh, and I wonder what the jerks at the Grammy Awards are think of their brilliant nomination of Banton now. Will one of next years nominees sing about killing blacks and/or Jews?

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