Pepsi ‘regrets’ sponsoring homophobic Beenie Man concert
Drinks giant Pepsi has said it was not aware of homophobic lyrics sung by a reggae artist whose concert it supported.
Beenie Man, real name Anthony Moses Davis, has a number of songs which advocate the murder of lesbians and gays.
He played a gig in Uganda last Saturday. The country is currently considering a new law which would execute or jail for life gay people.
The singer reportedly said: “In my family, we don’t have any gay person but if you’re gay, my brother that’s not my fault.”
He then performed his song Mi Nah Wallah, which details his wish to cut the throats of all gay men.
After gay groups such as Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, OutRage! and Change.org expressed their anger at the sponsorship, Pepsi said it was “appalled” at Davis’ lyrics.
In a statement, the company said: “We are appalled by the performer’s lyrics and find them repugnant. Our bottling partner in Uganda was not aware of the performer’s views and never would have sponsored the concert with this knowledge.
“Moving forward, we will work closely with our bottling partners to be more vigilant about the events associated with our brands.”
Other lyrics by the singer include “I’m dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays”, while one song suggests lesbians should be hanged.
A string of Davis’ gigs across New Zealand and Australia were cancelled this autumn. He was due to play several concerts for the Big Day Out festival, but organisers cancelled them after complaints.
