In view of the
unacceptable levels of gang violence and
gun and knife crime, which has
tragically claimed the lives of so many
young people in London, the LGBT human
rights group OutRage! urges you to take
prompt, effective action against
singers, such as Bounty Killer, who
contribute to the acceptability of gang
culture and violence by encouraging,
glorifying and celebrating the killing
of LGBT human beings.
We respectfully
request that you prohibit him from
performing in the UK on the following
grounds:
(1) Bounty Killer has
not signed the Reggae Compassionate Act,
whereby artists promise to halt inciting
hatred and violence – indeed he was
asked to sign the RCA and he refused to
do so.
Read a sample of the
Reggae Compassionate Act
here.
(2) Bounty Killer has
incited murder, which is a serious
criminal offence and a threat to public
order.
See examples of his
“burn and drown” gays lyrics
here.
Watch this
video of a Bounty Killer concert
(uploaded to YouTube on 24 August 2008),
where he openly boasts and incites the
crowd: “Faggot, I kill everyone of
them.”
All eight singers in
this Dancehall Dossier should be
prohibited from entering the UK, as they
have all incited the murder of LGBT
people. Some singers, such as
Buju Banton,
have signed the RCA, but have since
denounced and violated it. Prohibiting
Bounty Killer would be a good start to
tackling these proponents of homophobic
murder.
(3) Bounty Killer has
specifically incited the murder of LGBT
people, which is a threat to community
cohesion and good community relations.
(4) Bounty Killer has
been associated with repeated concert
violence and anti-gay hatred and abuse.
Caribbean World News reported in April
2008 that the government of Guyana has
banned Bounty Killer on the grounds of
violence, disorder and his torrent of
homophobic abuse at his concert that
month.
(5) The Home Office
and the Metropolitan Police ban foreign
racists and those who incite racist
violence from entering the UK and
performing in public, so you should
adopt the same policy towards foreign
homophobes and those who incite
homophobic violence: no entry, no
concert. LGBT people are entitled to the
same protection from murderous
incitements as black people – no more,
no less.
(6) Bounty Killer’s
incitements of violence are not confined
to overseas. His songs advocating the
killing of gay people are played on some
radio stations and sold by some records
stores in the UK. Bounty Killer is
therefore inciting violence and murder
within the UK.
We do not accept the
Met Police excuse that Bounty Killer
will not be permitted to perform songs
that incite homophobic violence at his
concert on Sunday. This does not make
his performance acceptable.
A white racist singer
who advocated killing black people would
not be allowed to perform in London,
even if he agreed to not incite the
killing of black people at his concert.
The Met Police would argue that any
stage performance by a white racist
singer would risk public disorder and
damage community cohesion. They would
ban him, full stop. They have adopted
this zero tolerance policy towards white
racist bands.
Yet when it comes to
straight homophobic singers who urge the
murder of gay people, the Met Police
take a softer stance. It has agreed to
let the Bounty Killer concert go ahead
on Sunday, despite the Met Police’s
professed commitment to oppose
homophobic hate crimes.
We believe you should
liaise with the Home Secretary to stop
Bounty Killer from entering the UK. He
has committed the criminal offence of
incitement to murder. If a white singer
advocated the killing of black people he
would not be allowed into the country.
You would rightly insist on his
exclusion; and urge the Home Office to
deny him a visa and work permit. Why
should there be double standards?
It is unacceptable to
say that racism is worse than homophobia
and that different standards should
apply.
Allowing Bounty
Killer to enter the UK is particularly
difficult to justify, given the
exclusion from Britain of the American
Black Muslim leader, Louis Farrakhan, of
the Nation of Islam. I don’t agree with
Mr Farrakhan’s politics or religion, but
he has not urged his followers to kill
anyone. So, if he is banned from the UK,
singers like Bounty Killer who incite
the murder of LGBT people should
definitely also be banned.
I hope this
information will prompt swift action by
you to block Bounty Killer’s entry into
the UK and his performance this Sunday.
