BUJU BANTON has decided to permanently remove his infamously homophobic song “Boom Bye Bye” from his catalog. Though he has not performed the song for well over a decade, he still faces protests over its violent anti-LGBT content. He explained that he wrote it in his teenage years in 1992 about a pedophile abusing a young boy in Jamaica and that the song has been taken widely out of context as a justification to kill gay men. The lyrics to Boom Bye Bye goes:
It’s like boom bye bye inna batty bwoy head
Rude bwoy nah promote no nasty man, dem haffi dead
Two man hitch up on and hug up on and ah lay dung inna bed
Hug up one another and ah feel up leg
Send fi di ‘matic or di uzi instead
Shoot dem now come mek we shot dem
LGBT rights groups have frequently protested at Buju’s performances. In light of this, several reggae and dancehall artists like Sizzla and Beenie Man signed the Reggae Compassion Act in 2007, in which they agreed to stop glorifying violence against the LGBT community.
The song has now been permanently been removed from all streaming services he controls and will no longer be performed on stage.
He released a statement:
In recent days there has been a great deal of press coverage about the song ‘Boom Bye Bye’ from my past which I long ago stopped performing and removed from any platform that I control or have influence over. I recognize that the song has caused much pain to listeners, as well as to my fans, my family and myself. After all the adversity we’ve been through I am determined to put this song in the past and continue moving forward as an artist and as a man. I affirm once and for all that everyone has the right to live as they so choose. In the words of the great Dennis Brown, ‘Love and hate can never be friends.’ I welcome everyone to my shows in a spirit of peace and love. Please come join me in that same spirit.
