iTunes Store Canada Removes Anti-Gay Songs from Catalog

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 8, 2008 - 11:54am.

Los Angeles - Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store in Canada has removed several songs by Jamaican dancehall artists from its catalog, after complaints about lyrics that advocate the killing of gay people were raised by LGBT groups Egale Canada and Stop Murder Music, Xtra.ca reported.

Egale Canada wrote an open letter to Apple and fellow retailers Archambault Musique Canada and HMV Canada in February, asking that songs from Elephant Man, Buju Banton and T.O.K. be removed due to violations of Canada's criminal code and Human Rights Act.

Buju Banton's track "Boom Bye Bye" contains the lyrics: "Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man, dem haffi dead/ Send fi di matic an di Uzi instead," which translates roughly as "Rude boys don't promote no queer men, they have to die/ Send for the automatic and the Uzi instead."

"We are extremely pleased with this decision," Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada, told Xtra.ca.

"We have also contacted HMV, Archambault Inc, and Amazon.ca and we are optimistic that they will follow iTunes lead."

Several of the songs brought to Apple's attention by the groups are still available for purchase on the U.S. iTunes Store, Box Turtle Bulletin reported.

Stop Murder Music has also had a hand in forcing the cancellations of performances in Canada by Sizzla, Elephant Man, Beenie Man, Vybz Kartel and others, and has even asked the Canadian government to deport Elephant Man and Sizzla.

Meanwhile, concerts by these artists in several British cities have also been cancelled of late due to similar pressure.