In this new woke era, one needs to be very careful about what you publicly say or put out on social media. Keeping Will Smith’s wife’s name out of your f***en mouth is a given. Paying close attention to your English pronouns (be it him/her/they) when addressing people is super important. And last but not least, acceptance of the LGBTQ community is crucial if you want to be successful.
Jamaican dancehall group T.O.K. having disbanded in 2015, is set to reunite with a new record in the pipeline titled, No Place Like Home. Contrary to the introduction, the majority of T.O.K.’s success came back in the early 2000s on the back of their popular track Chi Chi Man. The term chi-chi man is loosely defined as derogatory slang used to describe gay or effeminate men. The track goes hard in castigating gay men going as far as saying ‘blaze the fire make we burn them.’
Chorus
From dem a par inna chi chi man car
Blaze di fire mek we bun dem!!!! (Bun dem!!!!)
From dem a drink inna chi chi man bar
Blaze di fire mek we dun dem!!!! (Dun dem!!!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCrhfXjIEvY
The[/embed] track was removed from all streaming platforms but unofficial uploads remain on Youtube. In an effort to avoid cancellation with the new cancel culture, the group has opted to not perform the track in an effort not to offend anyone. T.O.K. member Roshaun ‘Bay C’ Clarke had this to say;
“Basically Chi Chi Man is like a gift and a curse. It’s a great record that means so much to so many people from just the love of the music but for some people it’s offensive as well. And because we feel like the music should really unite people, we’ve made a decision to not perform the song, because we don’t want to offend any of our fans.”
Following the announcement, and refusing to perform the track, there was a backlash from unruly fans who preferred the group to stick to their guns and not worry too much about what people think. People went as far as questioning the group members’ sexuality asking if they too had become chi-chi men.
In turn one of the group members, Craig Patrick Anthony Thompson came out publicly and unequivocally stated that he backs the song and stands by the hugely homophobic lyrics. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and he clearly would prefer to continue performing the song.
Nevertheless, Jamaica is not as ‘woke’ as most progressive countries so I am sure Craigy T’s comments will not be as damaging. However, touring may become a challenge as most countries do not take too kindly to homophobia. When they made the track back in 2000 their ages probably gave them a pass, but now they need to be able to articulate their feelings intelligently now that they are older. It’s a sensitive one but I think we all know what they need to do. It’s just not worth it. Or is it?
