Buju Banton's concert, due to take place on 5 July in Brighton, has finally been cancelled under the joint pressure of the police, the LGBT association and local councillors. Still pursued by the sulphurous reputation of the track Boom bye bye, written in 1992, Buju Banton has provoked heated and particularly uncompromising reactions from a city regarded as the capital of homosexuality in Great Britain.
The organiser, the Concorde 2 club, insisted that Buju would not perform Boom bye bye and would refrain from any provocation towards the gay community, but Simon Williams, a Green councillor in Brighton, on the contrary stated on the party's website that "whether or not Buju Banton performs this song is beside the point. (…) His lyrics create an environment in which homophobia and hatred find a cultural justification."
It is worth recalling that the stand-off between English gay associations and Buju Banton has now lasted more than two years and has still not led to solutions acceptable to both sides.