21
October 2003
Dear
<Name of Sponsor>,
Re:
MOBO Awards 2003
We refer to the above captioned award
ceremony, which took place at the Royal
Albert Hall on
Thursday 25th September 2003.
During the MOBO ceremony a number of
awards were given to artists who are
widely known for
amongst other things, glamorising violence,
condoning criminal activity and glorifying
misogyny. We are writing to express
our concern that your company could
be seen to be endorsing such an awards
ceremony. This is especially so when,
in giving such awards, the organisers
of that ceremony could be seen to be
acting in such an obviously socially
irresponsible manner.
We think it would be helpful if we briefly
set out our interest in this matter.
Ligali is a non-profit organisation
and is the first African British investigative,
monitoring, equality and complaints
Board. Our aim is a laudable one, namely
to attain equality for all. The remit
of our Media Affairs Division is, amongst
other things, the eradication of negative
racial and cultural stereotypes and
images in all forms of media. We are
also dedicated to tackling and eradicating
the social ills that beset our community.
To this end, for example, we are involved
in sustained anti-gun and gun crime
initiatives. Given our remit we are
sure you can understand why we are vehemently
opposed to rewarding artists who expound
violent and/ or misogynistic lyrics
or behaviour.
At this year’s MOBO’s a
number of awards were given to the rap
artists 50 Cent (Best Album, Best Single
and Best Hip-Hop Artist) and Lil’
Kim (MOBO Fashion Icon Award). The lyrics
in 50 Cent’s music are shocking
and irresponsibly violent. It also has
a strong anti-female bias. In a number
of interviews 50 Cent has made clear
that he does not feel any responsibility
towards the music buying public or,
indeed, the predominantly young people
who buy his music. In truth the lyrics
speak for themselves:-
“I’m bout my money
you see, girl you can holla at me
If you f*** with me, I’m a
P-I-M-P
Not what you see on tv, no Cadillac,
no greasy
Head full of hair, bitch I’m
a P-I-M-P”
“When my gun go off nigga
ask about me
nigga look what happen to the bitch
done choose
my wrist done froze I’ll show
you how I
lick dem hoes”.
Regrettably we have similar concerns
about the artist Lil’ Kim. Lil’
Kim is also known for her violent and
derogatory lyrics. We have attached
more extensive reproductions of their
lyrics for your consideration. As with
50 Cent, Lil’ Kim appears to feel
no responsibility towards the young
people who purchase her music.
The
World Business Council for Sustainable
Development in its publication “Making
Good Business Sense” defined corporate
social responsibility as follows:-
“The continuing commitment
by business to behave ethically and
contribute to
economic development while improving
the quality of life of the workforce
and their
families as well as the local community
and society at large” [our emphasis].
We would argue that large companies
such as yours have a responsibility
to consumers in the society in which
they serve. Many companies in recent
years (including yours) appear to have
accepted, and indeed embraced, this
notion of corporate social responsibility.
Sadly we believe that you fail in that
duty when you endorse awards ceremonies
such as the MOBO’s, at least in
their current form.
You will not be surprised to learn that
we have already drawn our concerns to
the organisers of the MOBO’s,
see for example our letter of 19th May
2003 to Kanya King (copy enclosed).
We therefore call upon you to publicly
withdraw your support of the MOBO awards
until such time as they give assurances
that they will not nominate or give
awards to artists who have: -
-
Promoted the ownership of illegal
firearms;
- Promoted the ideology
of shooting others for money, respect
or other misguided
reasons;
- Previously engaged
in criminal activity and who far from
relenting continue to glamorise their
criminal past and profit from it;
- Make public statements
outside or within their music stating
their intention to commit a criminal
offence
- Make comments likely
to incite a minor to commit a criminal
offence; and/or
- Consistently record
music with violent and/ or misogynistic
content.
We
are sure that you will agree that a
responsible company such as yours should
not be
promoting or endorsing artists who engage
in such behaviour, and we trust that
the
withdrawing of public support will cause
you no difficulties. If however, you
are unable to
withdraw such support then at the very
least we should appreciate your comments
on the
points that we have raised.
Yours
sincerely
Emma Pierre-Joseph
Head of Media Affairs
Toyin Agbetu
Head of Education and Crime Reduction
Click
here
to view attached lyrics |
