Singjay Sizzla, whose career has been dogged by legal controversies in recent months, is likely not to perform on Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest next year, the sponsors and organisers have hinted.

SIZZLA. his Sumfest performance was peppered with anti-homosexual exhortations

At a press briefing last Saturday afternoon at Montego Bay's Richmond Hill Inn, Sumfest organisers and sponsors cagily indicated, without naming anyone, that "an artiste had breached the agreed code of the Sponsors Coalition with respect to inciting violence in their lyrics".

The line was obviously a clear reference to Sizzla's scorching Dancehall Night performance last Thursday, which was peppered with repeated exhortations to "bun b.... man" and included the defiant anti-gay tirade "Bad man nah apologise to no b.... boy".

Red Stripe President Mark McKenzie was also reticent in stating what specific action, if any, would be taken against the artiste beyond excluding him from future stagings of Sumfest and other events supported by the Coalition.

In April this year, the Coalition of Corporate Sponsors - Red Stripe, Cable & Wireless, Supreme Ventures, Digicel, Courts, the Jamaica Tourist Board and J Wray & Nephew Ltd - announced that it would no longer inject money into entertainment events at which socially accepted standards of behaviour were breached.

Specifically, the group said it would not sponsor:
. acts or events whose live performances endorse or incite violence; demean or discriminate against any person or groups of persons; or include the use of indecent or profane language;

. events at which there is the use of indecent or profane language by featured acts, masters of ceremony or sound systems; and

. sound systems that play recordings which incite violence or promote discrimination.

The Coalition released its statement after what it said were breaches of its code at a closing Carnival concert on April 3 in Kingston. The group described the performances, which included profanity and violent lyrics, as "an affront to the many parents and children at the event".

But the statement also came against the background of intense pressure from mostly overseas gay rights groups for dancehall artistes to be sanctioned for anti-homosexual lyrics.

The upshot of that campaign was that a few dancehall artistes had shows overseas cancelled or they were dropped from tours with foreign acts.

The issue of artistes' on-stage pronouncements had weighed on Sumfest throughout the 2005 staging, particularly with the absence of deejays Beenie Man and Bounty Killer, owing to similar stated breaches of the code.

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