U2's Bono criticised for endorsing Shoot the Boer song

13 February 2011

Last updated at 15:59 GMT

U2's Bono criticised for endorsing Shoot the Boer song

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The Irish pop star Bono has been criticised for apparently endorsing a song which includes the lyric: "Shoot the Boer".

The U2 frontman said the song, which was sung during the fight against apartheid, had its place, like music supporting the Irish Republican Army.

His comments came at the start of U2's tour of South Africa.

But callers to local radio stations said the song was designed to stir up racial hatred.

"That's hate speech. They don't know our history at all," said one caller to a South African radio talk show.

The song has been at the centre of a political storm in South Africa, with the controversial leader of South Africa's youth league, Julius Malema, locked in a legal battle with a white lobby group over whether it should be banned as hate speech.

Sometimes used as a derogatory term for white people, Boer is an Afrikaans word for farmer.

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ENDS

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