Following their demands earlier this month that EMI part company with dance hall artist Beenie Man over his homophobic lyrics, gay rights group OutRage yesterday spoke out against the organisers of the MOBO Awards after they refused to exclude as possible nominees key dancehall artists who, campaigners claim, incite violence against the gay community through their lyrics. The artists OutRage want excluded when MOBO announce their 2004 nominations next week include the likes of Beenie Man, Elephant Man and Bounty Killer.
OutRage have been lobbying organisers of the MOBO Awards to exclude the controversial dance hall artists from their nomination lists since 2002. So far MOBO have resisted that exclusion. OutRage's Peter Tatchell this week accused the awards body of declining "repeated requests to open a dialogue"
However a spokesman for MOBO yesterday denied they had refused to speak to OutRage. The awards group told reporters: "We have been bearing this issue in mind for the past six months and are considering our response. To say we have refused to negotiate with OutRage is completely inaccurate."