Elephant ManELEPHANT MAN'S popular song Log On has seemingly 'logged on' to the angry side of the British gay community, which has voiced its disapproval of the song being posted on the British Broadcasting Commission's (BBC's) website.
In a report from The Guardian newspaper in England, dated August 30, it was reported that "the BBC was forced to remove material from its websites yesterday, after gay campaigners attacked it for promoting homophobic songs by reggae artistes that appear to encourage violence".
The report further stated that a webpage promoting the BBC2 series 'The History of Reggae' included the track Log On by Elephant Man, which describes stamping on and setting fire to a gay man, while the Radio 1 DJ Chris Goldfinger included Bun di Chi Chi ('burn the queer') in his top 10 on that his site, which is linked to the BBC's.
The parts of the song that have seemingly spawned the outcry are the words 'log on and step pon chi chi man... dance wi a dance and a bun (burn) out a freaky man.... step pon him like a old cloth... a dance wi a dance and a crush out dem ... do di walk, mek mi see the light and di torch dem fass'.
The Guardian further said the protests and details of the lyrics prompted both sites to remove information on the song. A spokeswoman for Radio 2, which was responsible for the 'History of Reggae' site, said: "We briefly made this song available on the website, but once we were aware of the nature of the lyrical content we removed it."
When contacted, Q45, Elephant Man's manager, said he was not in a position to comment, since he had not received information on the matter
OutRage, the gay human rights group responsible for the uproar over the song, said it was appalled that a publicly funded broadcaster could distribute Log On. A spokesman said: "It is a clear incitement to homophobic violence and murder."
Peter Tatchell, of OutRage, was reported as saying: "It's great that the BBC has recognised that this was a mistake and I hope that other radio stations will follow suit by not promoting these bigoted records."
Last year BBC Radio 1 was criticised for playing the TOK song Chi Chi Man, which was similarly described as violent and homophobic.
However, TOK's manager, Richard 'Shams' Browne, said that the gay community was overreacting, since the artistes did the songs based on 'vibes'.
"It's just a vibe. It's not to bring violence to anybody. It's a way to get forward," he said.
