A gay rights group in Belize has written to the promoters of an upcoming stage performance by Beenie Ban, demanding that the dancehall artiste be restricted from performing hateful and violent lyrics, among others.
Beenie Man is slated to perform at the Cahal Pech Resort in Belize on October 18 for the Bobby Chin Birthday Bash, but the event will be closely monitored by the United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM), the organisation has warned.
UNIBAM attorney Lisa Shoman wrote the promoters demanding that the artiste doesn’t “…make statements/sing, and/or perform lyrics and acts that incite, the murder of His Holiness the Pope, incite and advocate the hate/harm or murder of LGBT persons and promote harm and/or forcible sexual acts against women (and) girls….”
In explaining the reason behind the censorship, the attorney reportedly said “It’s not about gay people, it’s about violence. This addresses violent lyrics and the violence can be expressed towards the police, it could be expressed about the pope, it could be expressed about women, it could be expressed about gay people. So the focus is not the LGBT community, it is a call for there to be no violence, no violent lyrics song, no violence expressed and I think that is a reasonable call.”
She went on to say she is not saying Beenie Man shouldn’t come to the event, but that he should refrain from performing violent lyrics.
The attorney even said she liked Beenie Man and so do members of the organisation but “It’s not about liking the artiste, it isn’t even about entertainment. What it is, you are not allowed by law to say or sing or express things that call for violence against anyone, that incite people to violence. I would like all promoters to know, that I do not believe that any of them wish to make their living by promoting or advocating violence. So this isn’t against promoters. Every responsible promoter in this country has to obey the law and the law is very clear about inciting, advocating or promoting violence.”
In responding the promoter Bobby Chin said he will be “going by his own rules”.
“I’m going to ignore it, I’m going to abide by my rules. My rule from day one, I told every sound this, if you come to my birthday party and you play a bad word or you play anything against any group, you’re not going to get paid. That’s just my rule, I’m use to these things from long time. I have corporate sponsors and I respect the sponsors them. They never ask me to do it, but every birthday party I do, I have my little rules,” he reportedly said.
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