While organisers of the MOBO Awards resisted pressure from gay rights organisations to boycott certain dancehall artists because of their homophobic lyrics, organisers of this weekend's MTV Video Music Awards have proved more sensitive to protestors' demands. They have pulled one of the genre's most high profile names, Beenie Man, from the line up of a pre-awards concert after Miami based gay rights groups threatened to protest outside the event. Confirming Beenie Man had been pulled from the bill an MTV spokesman simple said: "We don't want anything to overshadow what will be a great weekend of music events for South Floridians".
Despite his recent attempts to quell the increasingly vocal opposition to his music in the gay community through an official statement in which he stressed he does not condone violence against any people, his comments to the Miami Herald following MTV's decision to pull him from their line up are unlikely to placate the groups that oppose him. He said: "I just smile, because I don't know what they're fussing about. I'm not here to cuss people. I make music. But at the same time I just want to teach people - my sons and my daughters - the right way of life".
His manager, Clyde McKenzie, was more diplomatic saying: "If their organisation [MTV] is being pressured they may not want anything to be distracting from their event. But in many instances the lyrics of dancehall artists are metaphorical. [Beenie Man] has made it clear that he doesn't want to incite violence."
To those comments Heddy Pena, executive director of the Miami-based gay-rights group SAVE Dade, told reporters: "We respectfully suggest that he use other metaphors."