Dancehall Artiste Beenie Man has been removed from removed from the line-up of international reggae festival Raggamuffin.
Beenie Man, real name Anthony Moses Davis, was removed following concerns raised by the New Zealand gay community over his homophobic past.
The concerns were raised by popular New Zealand LGBT movement GayNZ forcing Raggamuffin organisers to seek clarity from the artist about his stance on homosexuality.
According to reports, Raggamuffin had included the Grammy Award-winning artiste after being assured that his past homophobic comments and lyrics had been retracted.
It is reported that they offered Beenie the opportunity to publicly state his support of the gay community and retract his past lyrics.
However, Raggamuffin spokesperson Brotha D (Danny Leaoasavaii) said Beenie Man failed to answer questions about his past lyrics and his current stance on the gay community.
“ … based on this, we have removed him from the line-up,” the spokesperson said.
“We took the concerns of the gay community very seriously and sought to address them with Beenie Man. Raggamuffin is a family festival and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender or sexuality.
After being made fully aware of his past comments and lyrics, and continued homophobic attitude the Raggamuffin team made the decision to remove him from the festival line-up,” Leaoasavaii further stated.
Beenie Man has been replaced by Jamaican reggae and reggae fusion artist Diana King.
The singer, whose chart-topping hits have included ‘Shy Guy’ and a cover version of Dione Warwick’s ‘I Say A Little Prayer’, is known as the first Jamaican artist to publicly come out as gay.
On their website, GayNZ wrote an article about Diana King, informing the LGBT community that King is the replacement for Beenie Man at next year’s show, which gets under way February 2016.
Raggamuffin Music Festival is an annual event that tours Australia and New Zealand and usually includes popular reggae, hip-hip, funk, dub and soul acts.
Maxi Priest, The Wailers, Shaggy, Ziggy Marley, Sly & Robbie and Ky-Mani Marley, have performed at Raggamuffin Music festival in previous years.
Beenie Man, Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton and Queen Ifrica are just a few Jamaican artistes who have been bashed by international gay communities for their homophobic lyrics.
Beenie Man is among the Jamaican artistes who have retracted homophobic comments made in the past.
Earlier this year, Jamaican pop artiste Shaggy also made headlines when he referred to himself as “the biggest lesbian” when quizzed about his stance on the LGBT community.
Beenie Man removed from show for being anti-gay
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