Raggamuffin Removes Beenie Man From Line-up

Raggamuffin Removes Beenie Man From Line-up

* Jamaica's reggae Queen Diana King confirmed for festival

Raggamuffin has removed controversial Jamaican reggae singer Beenie Man from its line-up following concerns raised by the New Zealand gay community.

Raggamuffin had included the Grammy Award-winning artist known as ‘King of the Dancehall’ after being assured that his past homophobic comments and lyrics had been retracted. However, concerns were raised by GayNZ and Raggamuffin sought clarity from the artist and offered him an opportunity to publicly state his support of the gay community and retract his past lyrics.

Raggamuffin spokesperson Brotha D (Danny Leaoasavaii) said Beenie Man’s failed to answer questions about his past lyrics and his current stance on the gay community “and based on this, we have removed him from the line-up.

“We took the concerns of the gay community very seriously and sought to address them with Beenie Man. Raggamuffin is a family festival and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender or sexuality. After being made fully aware of his past comments and lyrics, and continued homophobic attitude the Raggamuffin team made the decision to remove him from the festival line-up.”

Beenie Man has been replaced by Jamaican reggae and reggae fusion artist Diana King. The singer, whose chart-topping hits have included ‘Shy Guy’ and a cover version of Dione Warwick’s ‘I Say A Little Prayer’, is known as the first Jamaican artist to publicly come out as gay.

Raggamuffin IX takes place on Saturday 20 February at The Trusts Arena in Auckland with two stages providing non-stop music all day. The festival is the bigggest urban and reggae event in New Zealand with a line-up featuring UB40, The Game, Xzibit, Macy Gray, Sly & Robbie with Bitty McLean, Inner Circle, Maxi Priest, Junior Marvin’s Wailers, Spawnbreezie, House of Pain featuring Everlast, Savage, Boo Yaa T.R.I.B.E, L.A.B and Aotearoa Reggae Collective (Majic, L-40 and Israel Starr).

A nationwide talent contest has been held to find two opening acts – reggae and urban – for the festival with the finals taking place on Friday 11 December in Porirua. Unfortunately due to billing conflicts Eddy Grant is no longer able to perform in Australia and New Zealand in February and a final major international act is expected to be named next week.

Raggamuffin IX is supporting the Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust as its chosen charity for the 2016 event. The Trust is an organisation which provides music therapy to special needs children and a percentage from every ticket sold goes towards the charity.

Tickets for Raggamuffin IX are on sale now and include VIP tickets, Grandstand tickets, GA tickets, Family passes and Youth tickets. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster 0800 111 999www.ticketmaster.co.nz and Red Rat clothing stores. For more details visit www.raggamuffin.co.nz

ENDS

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