KINGSTON, Jamaica - A gay community in Toronto, Canada recently complained about the lyrics of Jamaican artiste Elephant Man, which resulted in the singer being pulled from the lineup of one of the biggest Caribana events in Toronto.
The event, Caribana Celebrity Ball, is scheduled to be held on August 2 at the Circa Nightclub in the Entertainment District.
Elephant Man, whose real name is O’Neil Bryan, would have performed at the event alongside rapper Fabulous and R&B sensation Trey Songz.
According to yardflex.com, Kim Montgomery, a spokesperson for Circa, said members of Toronto's gay community found his music offensive, so they asked the promoter to remove him from the bill.
She said that the instant they heard that he was considered offensive they decided that would not promote him as an artiste.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Bryan has been pulled off a show due to the gay community; he has had past run-ins in Toronto and his native Jamaica.
In 2007, despite protest from human rights groups, Bryan was issued a visa to perform in Canada, prompting police officers from Toronto's hate crimes unit to monitor his songs for any utterance of anti-gay lyrics at his show at the Kool Haus. He was also monitored at shows in Winnipeg and Victoria.
Last year, gay rights activist groups advocated for a nationwide ban on what they called "murder music" being recorded and performed by artistes like Elephant Man. They alleged that songs promoting gay-bashing, such as Elephant Man's "Log On", have motivated brutal attacks by mobs on Jamaican gays.
Montgomery said the event was set up by an outside promoter that did all the bookings for the show and she had no clue that the artiste in question had slanderous lyrics in his songs.
"The promoter totally understands," she said. "We knew that it was a no-brainer and something that we had to make a decision upon."
Jamaica News