REGGAE GOLD CONCERT CANCELED BY LIFEBEAT ORGANIZERS

(VIDEO) LifeBEat cancels Reggae Gold concert after threats of violence…..

Foxy Brown, Beenie Man, Wayne Wonder, T.O.K., and Kulcha Don were scheduled to perform at next Tuesday’s Reggae Gold 2006 concert at Webster Hall in New York City. The event was billed as the first HIV/AIDS awareness reggae concert by Lifebeat’s Hearts & Voices Benefit Concert Series. But organizers have decided to cancel the concert because of alleged violent threats.

John Cannelli, Executive Director of LIFEbeat, said in a released statement, “In our desire to do something positive within the Caribbean American community, we didn’t realize the depth of the hurt in the GLBT community around the lyrics of these artists. Once we saw how deep and real it is, it became very clear that canceling the concert was the right thing to do.We want to extend a heartfelt apology to those we offended and thank the individuals who raised their voices and helped us to see a more effective way to realize our mission. We also want to clarify the concerns of violence we felt. Those concerns didn’t stem from any threats from activists or members of the Caribbean.”

“They never attack hip-hop. The never attack the comedians. They never attack none of the moviemakers, none of that. Look at the Sopranos right now, you know, so they not coming under no attack for that, you know. That’s it.”

Beenie Man, who has come under fire in the past because of his lyrics, believes that reggae artists are being singled out. He said,

“When you got to Europe, people really understand like okay if you try to fight against somebody else’s culture, that’s not really right. You know because it’s not like we were bashing out against gay people. I don’t know about the next man, you know? I lick out against child molesters. You know I have a foundation that protect these kids that have been molested. Three quarters, more than three uarters of the kids that get sexually molested in Jamaica, young boys.”

The Grammy Award winner added that he never advocated violence against homosexuals and that he’s started a foudnation to stop child molestation. He said,