LGBT+ rights campaigner, who was at the forefront of protests against violently homophobic lyrics in dancehall music two decades ago, says the Jamaican artist’s past should no longer by itself prevent him from entering the country
More than two decades after Peter Tatchell became one of the most prominent British campaigners challenging violently homophobic lyrics in Jamaican dancehall, the veteran human rights activist has said he does not believe Sizzla should now be excluded from the UK because of the controversy.
“I don’t think there’s a reason to exclude him now,” Tatchell said during a recent street interview with London Open TV, after being pressed on whether the Jamaican artist should be allowed to return to Britain despite not apologising for lyrics that attracted condemnation from LGBT+ campaigners.
Tatchell added an important qualification: “Unless someone apprises me of something terrible that he’s advocated recently, you know, the past is the past.”
The comments amount to a significant shift in emphasis from one of the most recognisable figures in the campaign against what activists dubbed “murder music” in the early 2000s.
That campaign targeted a small group of Jamaican dancehall performers over songs whose lyrics campaigners said advocated or celebrated violence against gay people. The resulting controversy extended well beyond Britain, with concerts involving some artists cancelled or challenged in Europe and North America amid pressure from LGBT+ organisations and other campaign groups.
Tatchell disputes the suggestion, however, that his campaign was directed at reggae or dancehall as genres.
When the interviewer described him as “the man that was responsible for a lot of reggae artists not coming to the country”, Tatchell immediately responded: “Only, only six.”
When the interviewer said Tatchell had been “poignant in stopping reggae artists from coming to the UK”, he again objected to the characterisation.
“Not reggae artists,” Tatchell said.
Asked whom he had opposed, he replied: “Who advocated killing gay people.”
“Not reggae artists in general,” he added. “I’ve got lots of reggae albums. I love reggae.”
The distinction goes to the heart of a dispute that became one of the most contentious episodes in the relationship between sections of Jamaica’s dancehall industry and LGBT+ campaigners in Britain.
For Tatchell, the issue was never simply offensive language or cultural disagreement. He argued that the lyrics had to be understood against the violence faced by gay Jamaicans at the time.
“When those records came out, lots of gay people in Jamaica were murdered,” he said. “Lots of gay people were murdered.”
He recalled assailants using language associated with anti-gay hostility, adding: “The assailants were actually saying, ‘Kill the battyman.’”
The interviewer acknowledged the point but repeatedly returned to Sizzla, saying: “I really want Sizzla to come back in the country.”
“He don’t want to apologise,” the interviewer said, before asking whether enough time had passed for the artist to be allowed back.
“It’s in the past,” Tatchell replied.
Pressed for an unambiguous answer — “We’re at a point now where Sizzla should be allowed in the country. Yes or no?” — Tatchell gave it.
“I don’t think there’s a reason to exclude him now.”
The interviewer responded enthusiastically: “Oh, thank you very much. That’s all I want to hear.”
Tatchell’s answer does not amount to a retraction of his earlier campaign. Instead, he argued that exclusion today would require evidence of recent conduct rather than relying indefinitely on statements or recordings from decades ago.
“It’s always never been about attacking reggae or dancehall music,” Tatchell said. “It’s great music, I love it.”
Asked to name his favourite reggae artist — with Bob Marley specifically ruled out by the interviewer — Tatchell reached considerably further back into Jamaican music history.
“No, I’m old school,” he said, citing “Mighty Diamonds and U-Roy and I-Roy”.
Tatchell drew a contrast between the socially conscious music he admired and the material he had campaigned against.
“They had political reggae about black liberation,” he said.
Tatchell praised music that was “about uplifting, empowering the black community”, rather than what he described as “all this bullshit” involving sexism and homophobia.
The exchange then moved from the international politics of dancehall to Tatchell’s own connections with Britain’s reggae history.
He recalled living on the Rockingham Estate in south London and said members of Aswad, one of Britain’s most successful reggae groups, had connections to the estate.
“I used to live at the Rockingham Estate,” he said. “And Aswad used to live there.”
Tatchell recalled a local anti-racism initiative called “Rockingham Against Racism”, saying Aswad had supported the cause with a live performance.
“We had a thing called Rockingham Against Racism,” he said. “And Aswad performed there live, at the time when they were very, very famous.”
The conversation ended on considerably friendlier terms than it began.
“You made some valid points,” the interviewer told Tatchell.
But on whether decades-old material should, by itself, keep Sizzla out of Britain today, Tatchell’s position is now clear:
“I don’t think there’s a reason to exclude him now.”
In 2006, TIME magazine published Tim Padgett’s article “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?” The article described the severe discrimination and violence faced by LGBTQ+ Jamaicans, including mob attacks, murders, and alleged police indifference. Padgett reported that this violence had led human-rights organizations to characterize Jamaica as “the most homophobic place on earth” (Padgett). The article also connected this hostility to anti-gay laws, political rhetoric, conservative religious attitudes, and violent lyrics within parts of Jamaica’s dancehall culture. Jamaican human-rights lawyer Philip Dayle explained that these influences created the perception that a gay person was “not just an undesirable but an unapprehended criminal”
