Beenie Man's 'hate speech' Might Ban Him From New Zealand,

The emerging awareness of notorious homophobic Jamaican reggae singer Beenie Man has many people, including Rainbow Youth, questioning whether he should be part of January's Big Day Out line-up.

Hateful lyrics - such as "I'm dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays" - have seen Beenie Man excluded from the high-profile MTV Video Awards and barred from entering the UK.

Rainbow Youth is calling for Beenie Man to be deleted from the Big Day Out line-up. The group's executive director, Tom Hamilton, says Rainbow Youth's mission is "to improve the awareness of the needs and safety for youth in Aotearoa who are questioning their sexuality and gender identity. This means it is imperative to impress upon the organisers of The Big Day Out the negative effect of involving artists who produce material that includes blatant homophobic content."

STRONG REACTION
Only hours after GayNZ.com yesterday morning revealed the musician's history of encouraging the abuse and murder of gays a protest Facebook group called 'Standing up against Beenie Man' had hundreds of members, some of them planning peaceful protest actions.

Meanwhile, C4TV's Big Day Out information pages which had carried promotional material on the performer now feature dozens of anti-Beenie Man comments. "Anyone who believes that defending this 'artist' means defending freedom of speech needs to think again," wrote one music fan.

"Beenie Man should be banned from New Zealand, or if not then banned from the BDO lineup. Someone should also educate him and his supporters on the debt the entertainment industry owes to its gays and lesbians," they added.

GayNZ.com forwarded questions to the promoters of the Big Day Out yesterday, but has not yet received a reply.