Despite advances in gay rights, homophobia in music continues to appear. Sometimes it is overt. Other times it is more subtle. Often when musicians are called out for anti-gay lyrics they claim they are adopting a character, expressing themselves creatively, or that their lyrics have been misunderstood. Other times they become defensive and argue that free speech gives them the right to spew hate.
Whatever the artists' rational, anti-gay lyrics reinforce stereotypes and accelerate hostility and hatred of GLBT individuals.
Of course, plenty of musicians change over time. Some who wrote homophobic songs early in their careers have gone on to change their views (or at least their tunes...).
One example is the rapper, Common who in 2007 said he would respond to gay fans' concerns by no longer producing homophobic music.
They was like, 'Why you keep disrespecting homosexuality?' I thought about it. I ain't here to judge 'em, so I just decided not to approach it like that.
Common isn't the only person to change his views. Superstar Kanye West spoke out against homophobia during a 2008 concert saying that it took him time to, "break out of the mental prisons [of homophobia]" and encouraged the audience to, "Open your minds. Be accepting of different people and let people be who they are." In a 2009 interview with MTV he continued on this theme explaining,
"I used to be scared to talk to a gay person...And in hip hop, there's people — and let's not even say scared like homophobic — but they're scared of the way people gonna look at them."Common and Kanye West aren't the only musicians to speak out against homophobia. But as the offenders below show, there continue to be artists out there who still think mocking someone for being gay or using a gay slur is perfectly acceptable.
