MOBO Must Not Promote Singers of Murderous Lyrics

KENILWORTH, 27 AUGUST 2004 — The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has written to the Chief Executive of MOBO, Kanya King, demanding that they withdraw the nominations of singers like Elephant Man and Vybz Kartel who continue to sing lyrics which encourage violence against, or even the murder of, gays. The MOBO Awards are being held on 30 September at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

GALHA’s secretary, George Broadhead, told MOBO that it has no possible moral alternative but to withdraw the nominations of Elephant Man and Vybz Kartel in the Best Reggae Act category. “If MOBO does not”, he said, “it becomes complicit in promoting the homophobia and the violence that follows.”

Mr Broadhead asked: “How would MOBO have reacted if the singers advocated killing black people or Jews? And let us not forget that the principal victims of the lyrics are Jamaican gays. The culture there – partly fuelled by evangelical Christianity – is horrifically homophobic, and these lyrics legitimise and fuel it.”

Mr Broadhead pointed out: “The singers need not be ruined; the remedy lies in their hands. All they need do is stop recording or releasing these homophobic lyrics and sing something else. Is it too much to ask that MOBO refuse to nominate them, thereby discouraging them and others from encouraging murderous acts?”