Why Is Bayfront Park Amphitheater Playing Host to a Musician Who Sings About Killing Gays?

by Michael A. Jones
 

Have any plans for the night of January 16? How about heading down to Miami, where you can catch a performance of Buju Banton, the Jamaican artist who has written and performed songs about burning gay people alive like rubber tires and murdering them by shooting them in the face with an Uzi. Yikes.

Kind of makes you wonder what the folks at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater are thinking, playing host to a musician with a penchant for lyrics like that. Indeed, Banton's anti-gay lines have cost him plenty of gigs here in the U.S., including a 2009 concert series at the House of Blues. LiveNation, the ginormous concert promoter, was even pressured to dump Banton from their list of sponsored concert gigs, in large part because of his homophobic music.

So what gives?

Well, for starters, Banton is currently in the United States, awaiting a February retrial for a slew of drug charges. Earlier this year, a jury deadlocked in the case, and Banton was set free on $250,000 bail. After some legal wrangling, a judge granted him permission to perform, if he could find a venue. Seems like the Bayfront Park Amphitheater is it.