'Beenie Man pulled from NZ show

Beenie Man was officially pulled off the line-up for Big Day Out, which will be held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in January. Beenie Man was billed to perform in Auckland, New Zealand.

Gay activists in New Zealand have been protesting on the Internet, in local newspapers and on air against the performance of Beenie Man in New Zealand due to anti-gay lyrics he had recorded in the past. He was the only reggae/dancehall act billed to perform on the show.

However, the promoter yielded to pressure and decided to remove Beenie Man from the line-up. In a release on the event's website, the promoters said: "Although aware of the controversial nature of Beenie Man and his previous lyrics that have caused offence with the gay and lesbian and wider community, the producers understood that the artiste had renounced these sentiments and no longer expresses those views."

Big Day Out
It continued: "Notwithstanding claims of a commitment to the Reggae Compassionate Act, which he signed in 2007 and a promise of adherence to peaceful and humanistic values for the dates here by Beenie Man, the depth of feeling and hurt amongst these groups has convinced us that for us to proceed with his Big Day Out appearances was, and would continue to be, divisive amongst our audience members and would mar the enjoyment of the event for many. For this reason, we have decided not to proceed."

Although there were protests, Beenie Man's brother and manager, Rohan 'Blue' Smith, said the artiste was not officially booked for the show. He said contractual arrangements were still ongoing because they were not comfortable with some aspects of the agreement. He, however, said that if the contractual matters were sorted out, Beenie Man would have been willing to perform.

JAMAICA STAR