NEW YORK (AP) – A reggae festival in New York which was created to promote peace among cultures is being denounced by gay and lesbian groups for allowing performers with a history of anti-gay lyrics.

The Reggae Carifest, which was held Saturday, Aug. 25, at Randall’s Island, in the East River included performances by Buju Banton and Bounty Killer, among several other acts at the daylong event. Gay and lesbian activists protested the performers outside the show to educate sponsors and concertgoers on the dangers of anti-gay lyrics, said Rashad Robinson, a spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, GLAAD. He said the performers have a right to free speech, but so do protest groups.

“We as an organization value free speech. It gives us the right to stand up to vulgar anti-gay lyrics which promote violence,” he said.

Early last week, hip-hop radio station Power 105.1 quietly withdrew its sponsorship of the event. The station, owned by radio giant Clear Channel Communications, Inc., would not specify the reason, but a spokesperson said the station does not usually play reggae, and never plays Banton or Bounty Killer. The station had never planned to broadcast the show live.

Calls to record labels for Banton and Bounty Killer were not immediately returned Friday, Aug. 24. Concert promoter Team Legendary did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The city Parks Department, which operates Randall’s Island, said in a statement Friday that all performers signed a code of conduct agreeing to refrain from performing anti-gay lyrics at the promoter’s request.

“This is a city that values the free speech of all artists, but we also are a city that does not accept intolerance. We are glad that the artists have agreed to refrain from hateful messages,” the department said in a statement.

The issue of anti-gay lyrics in reggae and other Jamaican music surfaced years ago when Banton released “Batty Rider” and “Boom Bye Bye,” which glorify the shooting of gay men. The Beenie Man song “Han Up Deh” calls for a lesbian to be hanged, while T.O.K’s song “Chi Chi Man” suggests the burning of gay men.

The husky-voiced Banton has been a major star in his native Jamaica since the early 1990s with brash dancehall music and, more recently, a traditional reggae sound. His career has been stunted in the United States because of his attitude toward gays. Banton was tried and acquitted on charges that he participated in the beating of six gay men by a Jamaica gang in 2004.

A concert last summer at Webster Hall was canceled after a similar uproar over performers Beenie Man and T.O.K. Also last summer, British concerts featuring Banton and Beenie Man were canceled after activists said the artists refused to stop using anti-gay lyrics.

Reggae Carifest first launched in 1998 at the Forest Hills Stadium in Queens and has been held at Keyspan Park, Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium and, most recently, Randall’s Island. Promoters call the show an “explosion of West Indian exhibitionism.”

“Reggae Carifest is doing our part to break down cultural barriers and to showcase the overwhelming richness of Reggae music and culture,” D’Niscio Brooks of Team Legendary, the concert promoter, said in a news release.

Styled after a traditional open-air Caribbean marketplace, the festival also features a vending village where food, art, clothing, crafts, and jewelry for Caribbean businesses are displayed.