GLAAD Takes Out Full-Page Variety Ad Protesting Buju Banton’s Grammy Nom

GLAAD has published out a full-page ad in the current issue of Variety to protest murder music reggae star Buju Banton’s nomination for Best Reggae Album.

In an advert in Hollywood show business paper Daily Variety, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center urged Grammy organizers to use Sunday’s televised ceremony to denounce music “that promotes or celebrates violence against any group of people.” The lyrics of Banton’s most controversial song “Boom, Bye Bye” in 1988, promote the murder of gay men by shooting or burning. Several of Banton’s U.S. concerts were canceled by promoters last year after an outcry over his lyrics. Banton was quoted late last year as saying he saw “no end to the war” between himself and gay men. The Recording Academy has said that the Grammy Awards honor musical achievement “regardless of politics” and that artists from many different political and cultural perspectives have been nominated over the years.

Banton is presently in jail in Florida awaiting trial for conspiracy to traffic cocaine. He faces 30 years years in federal prison after attempting to purchase 11 pounds of the drug from undercover DEA officers.