October 2, 2007

Toronto: Elephant Man, Sizzla Shows Cancelled

The Toronto Star delivers the good news:

Kool Haus has pulled the plug last minute on the concerts of two controversial reggae and dancehall artists.

Entertainers Elephant Man and Sizzla were scheduled to perform Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 respectively, but both men have been under fire from human rights organizations who say their lyrics are homophobic.

Akim Larcher, founder of Stop Murder Music Canada - a coalition made up of 20 organizations that promote human rights - says that the federal government has remained silent.

“They shouldn’t have been allowed to get visas to perform in the country,” says Larcher. “It’s not about censorship or artistic freedom. That stops when hate propaganda is involved… No one should have that platform to speak.”

. . .

But activist and author Orville Lloyd Douglas says a lot of these organizations are targeting Black entertainers. “There are a lot of double standards here. They don’t go after Eminem or Marilyn Manson.”

. . .

“There are artists who are profiteering the songs about death and violence against gays and lesbians,” says Larcher. “It isn’t a black and white issue. It’s a human rights issue.” …

Ah, the old when-you’re-wrong-shift-the-target-to-something-else gambit. But that’s OK; we’ll bite:

Nobody’s “targeting Black entertainers” — only so-called entertainers whose lyrics promote the murder of gay men and lesbians; e.g.:

Shot batty boy, my big gun boom — Sizzla
(”Shoot queers, my big gun goes boom”)

Battyman fi dead!
Please mark we word
Gimme tha tech-nine
Shoot dem like bird — Elephant Man

And gay people have long complained about Eminem’s anti-gay lyrics, even while being told we’re just not hip enough, or young enough, or whatever enough, to appreciate his artistic stylings.

Whatever. These lyrics alone, from Eminem’s Criminal, are clear:

My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge
That’ll stab you in the head
Whether you’re a fag or lez
Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest
Pants or dress — hate fags?
The answer’s ‘yes’

And if Marilyn Manson is offending anyone (and it should be African-Americans who are offended; we’ve heard Manson repeat the N-word in his lyrics, compulsively), why isn’t anyone speaking up? Maybe because Manson is primarily the property of death-obsessed teenagers unlikely to notice his racial barbs, much less complain about them?