That's pretty ghey, but fair enough.

I think it comes down to the whole issue of picking on a minority that is already marginalised and picked on by the very nature of who they are. That's what offends me about it. That's why I could put up with gays talking smack about 'straights' but not vice versa. Gay bashing is real and happens, where I can't think of any incidents of it being the other way around. Its the power imbalance. Admittedly, its not what I think about when I 'feel' offended by it, but I think that's where the feeling of offence comes in. I'm not in any way suggesting that violence or hatred is ok if you're in a minority (here's looking at you Hone) but it seems so much more potent when its directed to a minority of people who are often marginalised already.

Ha ha ha - I love Jet!

But anyway, so many artists are offensive. Sometimes that's what makes them popular. If we paid attention to every group that was offended about something then no-one would fit the bill and we'd have no BDO.

Ive never heard Beanie Man and the dismal line up is what is stopping me going. But if I were to go, then I just wouldn't go into whatever area Beanie Man is playing in. It's simple!! You don't like it, then don't watch - there will be a few other stages at the same time to choose from. Cancelling him, in my opinion, was unnecessary.

I think there's a big difference between singing a song about killing one person - be it father/mother/wife/husband and singing about ways you can kill an entire group of people. While I think Eminem is both gross and grossly untalented I think his songs are different to songs that expressly say a certain group of people should be killed.

Eminem sings about the crap he sings about because he's not very smart. Beenie Man sings about killing gay people because he's a Rasta and he's from Jamaica and he genuinely thinks gay people should be murdered.

For a long time now The Rastafari Movement has got a free pass because of Bob Marley. It's not actually about weed and dreads. It's just as hateful and pointless as any other religion. But because of Bob it's imagined to be this mythical peace loving way of life. Rubbish.

The fact is people in Jamaica listen to Beenie Man's lyrics and ACTUALLY go out at attack gay people. Jamaica is one of the most dangerous places in the world for LGBT people. The violence is so bad for LGBT Jamaicans that they can actually get refugee status in most countries. Is that really the same as a idiot rapper like Eminem who only writes songs about being violent to be controversial and sell records?

Would you listen to a Neo Nazi group if they had 'good beats'? Would you listen to a Ku Klux Klan band? Would either of those groups be acceptable for BDO?

But yes it's true that Jet sucks.

Actually I quite liked Jet at BDO 2007 (at least I think it was 2007, and I think it was Jet I’m thinking of; it may have been The Datsuns). Not stunning, but fun and they had tunes you could dance to.

Fantasy killings now, that’s a more interesting topic. I don’t have a problem with them, as such. Most of us will have thought about killing someone at some point; it’s part of the human experience and I’m okay with it as long as it stays in the realm of fantasy. I would hope, though, that if you fantasize about killing someone you have a better reason than pointless discrimination. I don’t buy Has-Beenie Man’s story. I think he’s a nasty little bigot. I’m really over the kind of racist, sexist and otherwise discriminatory lyrics that appear to be the backbone of the rap/hiphop scene. It’s one of the reasons I don’t listen to this genre. It’s not clever, it’s not ironic, and it’s not a courageous fight against oppressive political correctness. If they’re doing it to shock, then they’ve been doing it so long any shock value has worn off and it’s now old and tired. If it represents their actual views then it’s just disgusting.

So, in conclusion: fantasizing about shooting your cheating ex, fine. Fantasizing about killing people because their sexual preferences are different to yours, not cool. Not cool at all. Good on ya BDO for saying no to this crap. Now, if they can just get rid of the rest of the rubbish from the line up and replace it with David Bowie…

With that logic JeM would it be OK if a group of white supremacists played BDO? Would you mind if they waved Nazi flags? Pulled out a couple of nooses and wore big white hoods?

How silly of people to get offended by someone encouraging the murder of an entire group or race of people. *sarcasm font* They should just ignore them. Then they'll go away right! Simple!

Meh, never heard of beenie man, just replace him with another no-name act that noone gives a crap about, make it a struggling local artist though, support the scene.

Grim Jim #4

Eminem is extremely clever

Most BDO acts should be banned for being lame.

But then there wouldn't be any BDO at all.

I was more offended at the use of the phrase "core values" in the BDO's first statement. I think that said all I needed to hear about the festival, really.

Wait ... who is Beenie Man? I have never heard of him ...

The BDO lineups seem to vary year in, year out for international acts. My ideal line up would be Chillis, Incubus, the DefTones and some new-ish band like Avenged Sevenfold.

They pretty much have the same Kiwi bands playing. Does this show the lack of depth and/or talent in Kiwi music or does it show the lack of promotion in up and coming bands? Is the BDO a place to put in a new band? I'd think Homegrown would be better for that, actually. (I dunno, I just work here!)