From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A black eye for Beenie

Hostile, gay-bashing lyrics from Jamaican dancehall artist Beenie Man and other nominees taint The Source Awards.

by Joanie Cox

October 6 2004

Is it Beenie Man or Meanie Man? Not everyone is thrilled to see the reggae rapper back in Miami. A little more than a month after getting the boot from the MTV Video Music Awards over lyrics such as "I'm dreaming of a new Jamaica/Come to execute all the gays" and "Queers must be killed," Beenie Man is up for Dancehall Reggae Artist of the Year at this weekend's Source Awards.

Brett Lock, a member of the U.K.-based gay-human-rights group Outrage! (www.outrage.nabumedia.com), is reaching out to gay and lesbian groups in the United States to revoke the nominations of gay-bashing artists at the Source Awards. Lock says in addition to Beenie Man, who has scored a hit single with "Dude," every artist nominated in the category, including Elephant Man, Sizzla, Vybz Kartel and T.O.K., has released songs inciting the burning, shooting, drowning and hanging of lesbians and gays.

"Artists who promote violence against other groups or artists should be shunned, not rewarded," Lock says in a phone interview. "I doubt the music of neo-Nazis who made anti-black or anti-Jewish songs would be rewarded, either."

He also points out the especially dangerous problem of how much the music contributes to violence against gays and lesbians in Jamaica. "There, they get no protection from the police," he says. "In fact, the police there often participate in gay beatings."

In June, Outrage! successfully had Beenie Man, whose real name is Anthony Davis, removed from a concert appearance in London and recently got Elephant Man and Vybz Kartel dropped from the Music of Black Origin Awards in London as well. South Florida gay-rights groups such as Save Dade and the Miami chapter of The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) haven't announced any organized protest yet.

Meanwhile, Beenie Man is making no apology for his loaded lyrics. "I just smile, because I don't know what they're fussing about," he told The Miami Herald in August. "I'm not here to cuss people. I make music. But at the same time, I just want to teach people -- my sons and my daughters -- the right way of life."