'Boom Bye Bye' still haunting Buju

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Singjay Buju Banton has been forced to cancel his seven-citytour of the United States (US) due to another round of protests fromgay rights groups against him in that country.

The New York Times and major networks

like NBC have reported that promoters in Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas

and Dallas, have called off shows Banton was scheduled to headline.

The opening leg of the US tour was supposed to start October 2 at the House of Blues in Chicago.

Leading the protest is the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. They cite his 1992 song Boom Bye Bye as the reason for their dogged opposition to Banton performing in the US, claiming it encourages violence against homosexuals.

NBC reported that the group recently launched a campaign on Facebook to block the US tour which is being used to support his Rasta Got Soul album.

Loud message

The networkquoted Lorri L Jean, chief executive officer, of the Los Angeles Gayand Lesbian Center as saying, "I hope this victory sends a deafeninglyloud message to other promoters and concert venues, that singers whoglorify violence against LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals andtransvestites) people, or any group of people, should never bewelcomed. It shouldn't be necessary for us to pressure promoters to dothe right thing; people like Banton should never have been booked inthe first place."

Boom Bye Bye was first recordedin 1988, but was released four years later and became a hit in localdancehalls. Since Banton's career took off in the US in 1995 with therootsy Til Shiloh album, gay rights activists have targeted his shows in that country.

Inrecent years, he and other dancehall acts including Beenie Man andCapleton, have had to cancel shows in Europe where gay groups say someof their songs incite violence against homosexuals.