"Gay hater" Steen's Liberation Day performance angers LGBT group

By Janene Pieters on May 6, 2016 - 15:05
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Stijn Kosterman, better known as rapper Steen (Photo: @SteenDeVader/Twitter). Stijn Kosterman, better known as rapper Steen (Photo: @SteenDeVader/Twitter)

LGTB interest group COC is shocked and dismayed that "gay hater" Steen was allowed to play at Utrecht's Liberation Day festival on Thursday. The group is demanding an explanation and apology from the organization, RTL Nieuws reports.

Rapper Steen is known for his negative comments about gay people. On Twitter he posted about "cancer gays" and how he wants to lock "gay rappers" up in concentration camps and gas them. On Remembrance Day, the day on which the Netherlands commemorates the victims of World War II, he retweeted a tweet from an account under the name Adolf Hitler. "You know my name, not my story. You know what I've done, not what I've been through. Stop judging me", the tweet read.

"It is appalling and outrageous that this rapper performed", Philip Thijsma of the COC said to the broadcaster. "On 30 April he still tweeted something about cancer gays. It is incomprehensible that the Liberation Day festival let him perform on the freedom stage."

The organization for the Utrecht Liberation Day festival stated that they invited Steen, real name Stijn Kosterman, because he is popular with the street youth in the city and they really wanted to reach this group. "These young people are very difficult to reach through regular channels." director Dennis Luken said to RTL. He emphasized that Steen is not racist or a gay hater. "We know that he is a controversial guy. But when Steen talks about cancer gays, he means the rap scene."

Earlier this week COC also criticized the Jehovah's Witnesses for a on their website. The video states that same-sex couples are going to hell and implies that their sexuality is a choice, according to the group.

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