HOUSE OF BLUES PUTS PROFIT BEFORE PRINCIPLE

House of Blues has an excellent "mission statement." But is it worth the salary of the corporate drone who drafted it? Does Capleton singing "All queers and sodomites should be killed," promote diversity, brotherhood and nonviolence?

Our Mission, says House of Blues is

To create a profitable principled global entertainment company.

To celebrate the diversity and brotherhood of world culture.

To promote racial and spiritual harmony through love, peace, truth, righteousness and nonviolence.
www.hob.com/aboutHOB/

At both its Los Angeles corporate headquarters and locally, House of Blues has ignored our protests, and the Chicago performance of Capleton who advocates "burning" and "shooting" gays and lesbians is still on, set for September 23 at 9 PM.

Unlike the RJ Reynolds-sponsored anti-gay Beenie Man tour which was set for House of Blues, then canceled by the tobacco company, perhaps House of Blues itself has pumped cash into the Capleton tour.

Sorry, House of Blues. Nobody said that adherence to principle is always easy. We say that persons advocating death to LGBT people are outside the pale of freedom of expression and ought not be permitted to profit from hate.

Please take Action Now.

If you haven't already contacted the House of Blues, please do so now. If you have done so, thanks, and do it again, but this time with a more forceful message.

1. Firmly ask them firmly to cancel Capleton.
2. Tell them that if this performance occurs as scheduled, you will boycott the establishment.

3. Participate in a press conference and/or an informational picket at HOB.

The press conference is set for Friday, September 17 at House of Blues at 11 AM. The informational picket is set for Thursday, September 23 at House of Blues at 7 PM.

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR HOUSE OF BLUES

Jim Jablonski,
Chicago General Manager
House of Blues
329 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60610
312-923-2000
FAX 312-527-3072
hobchicago (at) hob.com

Jack Gannon
House of Blues Publicity
6255 Sunset Blvd. 16th Floor
Hollywood, CA 90028
323.769.4705

media.inquiries (at) hob.com

-----------------------------

Background note on Reggae/regga Dancehall Antigay Murder Music

The release of “kill gays” songs by Capleton, Beenie Man and other Jamaican dancehall singers has been followed by a wave of homophobic violence in Jamaica and Britain (where there is a substantial population of Jamaican descent). Lesbians and gays have been shot, stabbed, macheted and stoned to death, doused with gasoline and set ablaze, and chased into the sea and left to drown.

Victims include Brian Williamson, the foremost gay rights leader on the island nation, whose multiply-stabbed body was found June 9. Gay sex in Jamaica is punishable by 10 years hard labor.

As Americans who oppose violence against LGBT people, we also must be mindful of the nefarious role played by the US government in promoting the conditions of poverty in Jamaica and elsewhere, which help breed this scapegoating and violence.

Attacks on gays and other groups in Third World countries occur against a backdrop of grinding poverty promoted by so-called “free trade” programs imposed by the U.S. Already poor local economies are devastated further because the only “free trade” that occurs is in commodities for which the U.S. has a competitive advantage, while U.S. taxpayers subsidize the dumping of U.S. exports, such as agriculture, where poorer countries might otherwise compete and build their own wealth.

Antigay rhetoric by bishops, preachers and politicians in the US has similarly helped create a climate in which increased antigay violence is occurring. No respectable venue today would showcase an artist who defamed Jews or African-Americans. We demand the same respect for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people!

-----------

Chicago Anti-Bashing Network (CABN) cabn.org cabnstopthehate (at) aol.com 773-878-3697