Buju Banton has to rethink The "Fax Machine" comments

Earlier this year at the Rasta got Soul album launch at the University of the West Indies of all places to embrace him Buju Banton after making a short speech referred to the gay lobby then as a bunch of guys behind a fax machine and hinting that he wasn't worried about the opposition he had been facing all these years since the release and constant quiet marketing of his most famous hate song "Boom Bye Bye".



Some of reggae's strong supporters at the UWI: ( from left) Cecil Gutzmore, Professor Carolyn Cooper, and Dr Donna Hope Marquis share a moment with Buju Banton (second right) at the launch of Rasta Got Soul at the Undercroft, University of the West Indies, Mona. (Photo: Jermaine Barnaby) April 22, 2009

.............Banton later balanced his embrace stating that dancehall artistes need public support against the gay lobby. "It is just a few guys behind a fax machine, but we must come together and write letters because it is more of us than them."...................

Well it seems the guys behind the fax machines have stepped up to Blackberries, social networking sites and other high tech mechanisms and personal contacts to know when his shows are gonna be held. How can his embrace be balanced if on one hand he says the CD is for everyone including gays then turns around and insult the people who you should be really trying to win over to his so called "New Soul" image and music.

I guess he is sorry now for making such an ignoramus remark and underestimating the gay lobby in America or worldwide for that matter. Gays in Jamaica might be more circumspect or cautious in lobby action but he of all people should know how it works in other parts of the world, especially in Europe as he and others like Sizzla and Capleton have faced pickets and strong opposition before. The Eurpoean SMM consortium by the way are watching the developments with great interest and are preparing to continue their own lobby action as before the present American LGBT backlash.

In what seems as a paltry attempt at damage control then and a dried up olive branch extended the new CD was intended as he puts it "This record is for everyone," "the young, the old, the gay, the lesbian, the black, the white."
Buju of course is on his own label and has no major distribution backing so it's all on him to move his product. I doubt very much any major sales will happen following this lengthy episode of opposition, more so in Europe where the SMM campaign has been steady over the years, America has now been bitten by the bug.

The defense by Buju's supporters claiming he did the song when he was 15 and he doesn't perform the tune anymore which has been proven to be untrue doesn't hold water.

Let's examine this .......
15 years old!!! and he can think about telling people to kill!!!!???
wow I don't think people fully realise the significance of this, even if he himself did not write the song the ADULTS around him were clearly indoctrinating HATE and death as if it is normal in this child.

Is this what we want to teach our kids? then the religious right is worried about who I and other homosexuals do with consent in the privacy of our own homes?

WHAT HYPOCRISY???

Why doesn't he and the management and the record companies pull the song?
Are they afraid that person and pundits might consider him weak and that he has bowed to pressure, remember the Sizzla comment: We nah bow to nuh battyman or words to that effect.

Yes while I agree that persons are entitled to freedom of speech I do not think the US Constitution covers or protects persons who incite violence, death or harm of any sort to another citizen. With freedom of any sort comes responsibility it cannot be a willy nilly act because one has a right u can hide in the letter of the law to commit a wrong.

That doesn't cut it Buju lovers

In the old days Rastafarians preached love and respect not death, I wonder what has changed over the years????
I am almost sure that there are some rastas in certain of the orders are not pleased with the image of rastafarianism today. The double standards, love in one breath, death in the other of course coupled with indiscriminate sexual acts and disrespect for women in general.

Conflicting messages eh???

Peace