While organisers of the MOBO Awards resisted pressure from gay rights organisations to boycott certain dancehall artists because of their homophobic lyrics, organisers of this weekend's MTV Video Music Awards have proved more sensitive to protestors' demands. They have pulled one of the genre's most high profile names, Beenie Man, from the line up of a pre-awards concert after Miami based gay rights groups threatened to protest outside the event. Confirming Beenie Man had been pulled from the bill an MTV spokesman simple said: "We don't want anything to overshadow what will be a great weekend of music events for South Floridians".

Despite his recent attempts to quell the increasingly vocal opposition to his music in the gay community through an official statement in which he stressed he does not condone violence against any people, his comments to the Miami Herald following MTV's decision to pull him from their line up are unlikely to placate the groups that oppose him. He said: "I just smile, because I don't know what they're fussing about. I'm not here to cuss people. I make music. But at the same time I just want to teach people - my sons and my daughters - the right way of life"..."

This bit of BM news comes via CMU.