Buju Banton Promoter Claims $100,000 loss on Miami Concert
Miami - The Reggae concert featuring two artist known for gay-bashing lyrics lost $100,000 money in the wake of public outrage surrounding their performance, according to the show's promoter.
Buju Banton and Beenie Man have provoked international condemnation for songs that advocate the murder, maiming and torture of gay men and lesbians.
Buju Banton's song "Boom Bye Bye" has become an international gay bashing anthem and his failure to denounce and distance himself from the murderous lyrics has caused venues across the country to cancel his show.
Equality Florida members across the state called, emailed and met in person with venue managers to educate them about the lyrics that advocate murdering gay people with AK-47s, acid, fire and by lynching.
Elected officials and community leaders spoke out against the lyrics.
Venues in Tampa, St.Pete, Orlando and Tallahassee canceled performances. The Cuban Club in Tampa barred Buju Banton for performing the song.
Citing First amendment concerns, management at the publicly owned Knight Center said they could not cancel the show, but the outrage appears to have cost the reggae dancehall singer and the show's promoter support.
Some Banton supporters believed the controversy would increase ticket sales and began spotlighting him as the headliner but ticket sales in Miami never reached even modest projections according to reports.
The shows promoter complained to an Equality Florida member that he had personally lost $100,000.
Equality Florida has requested that Buju Banton denounce his lyrics that call for the murder of gay people, stop performing the song and stop profiting from its sale.
