2010 BDO: The Second Announcement

Well, the second announcement was made today and I plan to go into more detail in a later post, but first of all I have to ask, what the hell were the organisers thinking?

Today an artist was named in the second lineup whose music contains anti-gay sentiment. His lyrics contain such gems as:

"I'm a dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays"

(sourced via The Independent)

"Hang chi chi gal wid a long piece of rope" [Hang lesbians with a long piece of rope]

(sourced via The Guardian)

"Tek a bazooka and kill batty-fucker" [Take a bazooka and kill gay men]

(sourced via The Guardian)

Charming huh?

As you could imagine there are a few people rather disappointed that such an artist has ended up on the Big Day Out 2010 bill. A few of us were talking and one of the girls from Twitter, @JessCann, set up a Facebook group this morning.

A group that tonight has 532 members - in under 12 hours.

It seems I'm not the only one who doesn't want something like this at the Big Day Out.

I don't want someone who has been known to sing this kinda stuff at the Big Day Out, which is like my version of Christmas. It's my favourite day of the year and this kind of thing goes against everything I stand for.

Beenie Man comes from Jamaica, where having gay sex is punishable by 10 years in prison. Jamaica is incredibly intolerant of homosexuality, and while I suppose Beenie's lyrics are reflecting his culture, they do not reflect the culture in New Zealand.

I'm still going to go to the Big Day Out, and I'm still going to enjoy myself, but I do not want this artist there. I'll wear a t-shirt that says that on the day; I'm exercising my right to free speech as well.

If you want to join the Facebook group, you can do so here.