The London Metropolitan Police are under fire this week as they have given the green light for openly homophobic ragga artist Bounty Killer to perform in London.

The former Freeform Five collaborator is known to encourage violence and hatred towards the gay community, and is scheduled to play a gig at the Stratford Rex this weekend in East London - despite the police force previously giving its backing to the  Reggae Compassionate Act, organised by gay rights activist Peter Tatchell.

The RCA was developed last year after growing anger in the gay community and elsewhere over the homophobia of some in the dancehall genre led to a string of cancellations of gigs by accused artists, especially in the UK, US and mainland Europe. The plan was that artists would sign up to the agreement and in doing so advocate tolerance and commit to not perform homophonic songs any more. In return, there would be lobbying to cancel gigs by these artists. Many artists refused to sign the document (including Bounty Killer), or backtracked on it

Tatchell told reporters yesterday: "The Metropolitan Police is hypocritical on hate crimes. It allows homophobic singers to perform in London, but not racist ones. Racist artists are banned on the grounds that they are a threat to public order and good community relations. This is a case of double standards".

Reports suggest that promoters of the gig have told Bounty Killer he must not perform any of his homophonic songs at the event, and the Met say their officers will be allowed into the venue to ensure that no "inciting hatred or violence" crimes are committed. Nevertheless, Tatchell is still calling for the gig to be cancelled, and is urging people to write to both the head of the Met and the Home Secretary making demands to that effect.

The outrage over the Bounty Killer gig in London follows the cancellation last week of a gig by another controversial reggae artist, Capleton, in Basel, Switzerland. He did sign up to the RCA last year, but campaigners say they have evidence of him continuing to perform homophonic songs since doing so, and as such successfully lobbied for the Swiss gig to be cancelled.

Source: www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk