Elephant Man Didn’t Forget His Promise

Contour Music chief Klaus Mack’s last-minute diplomacy prevented Summerjam from getting stuck in the middle of a row with gay rights activists as he got Elephant Man to sign a paper saying there’d be no homophobic lyrics.

In the week leading up to the event, the gay organizations began an Internet campaign against the Jamaican rapper appearing. The also targeted Asta TV and WDR Radio, which both had plans to broadcast highlights from some of the shows.

“I got Elephant Man to sign a paper saying he wouldn’t use lyrics provoking racial tension and he stuck to it. I’m very pleased this worked because he kept his word and it shows that using those sort of words can be a thing of the past,” Mack explained.

“I invited the gay rights groups and offered them translations of all that Elephant Man sang and, at the end, the people from Outrage! agreed that there was nothing bad in the performance.”

By saving Elephant Man’s slot, Mack managed to produce the first festival in the event’s 21-year history that didn’t suffer from one or more acts pulling out.

“Every year, someone has trouble getting a visa, becomes ill or misses a plane, but this year everyone went on stage,” he added, as Summerjam sold all of its 25,000 three-day tickets for the fifth year in succession.

The success the event’s achieving in Cologne is causing Mack to consider expanding it and running a sister festival over the same weekend, probably in the Berlin area.

Also on their best behavior July 14-16 were Damian Marley, Ziggy Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Morgan Heritage, T.O.K., Luciano, Andrew Tosh, Saian Super Crew and top German talent including Culcha Candela, and Joy Denalane.

– John Gammon