Amid increasingly boisterous protests from gay rights groups, six additional tour dates by controversial Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton have been canceled, whittling down his U.S. tour considerably.

Last month, gay activists managed to shut down six shows. Cancellations at four House of Blues venues joined scrapped appearances in San Francisco, at the Regency Ballroom, and Los Angeles, at Club Nokia.

The tour's first performance at the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia was greeted with a loud protest last week.

“We condemn this hate speech and his call to violence against gays and lesbians, and we also condemn the exploitation of our community in song for profit,” said Thom Cardwell, a board member of the Gittings Trust, a Philadelphia-based gay rights group.

Banton's 1992 hit Boom Bye Bye advocates for the murder of gay men by shooting them in the head with a submachine gun and pouring acid on them to “burn him up bad like an old tire wheel.” Banton has dismissed the controversy, saying he penned the lyrics when he was “a child” of 15. But the thirty-six-year-old reggae artists has never repudiated the lyrics and continues to perform the song.

At least six additional venues have canceled shows this month.

In Salt Lake City, pressure from gay activists closed down a scheduled October 8 performance at Urban Lounge, a downtown venue.

“When initially scheduling the Buju Banton event, we were unaware of his hateful anti-gay message,” Will Sartain, co-owner of the club, said in a statement. “Upon further review, Urban Lounge has decided to cancel the event. We strive for peace and understanding in our community. We support the rights of all. We have made this decision on moral grounds.”

A spokesperson for Banton's record label, the New York-based Gargamel Music, condemned the cancellation and pledged a Utah concert will take place.

Richmond, Virginia local promoter Lionheart Promotions was forced to move its September 26 show from The National to The Hat Factory after the first venue pulled its support.

In Columbus, Ohio a threatened protest by gay rights activists managed to shut down an October 3 performance at the Lifestyles Communities Pavilion. Local gay rights groups – including Equality Ohio and Stonewall Democrats of Ohio – said the venue's close proximity to the gay-inclusive neighborhood of Victorian Village created “a tangible threat to the safety and well-being” of the gay community.

The Columbus cancellation took down the tour's entire early October weekend already suffering from cancellations in Cincinnati and Minneapolis, scheduled for Friday, October 2 and Sunday, October 4 respectively.

And a Hard Rock Live performance in Orlando scheduled to take place near the end of the tour, Sunday, November 1, has also been canceled, according to Ticketmaster.

The tour still enjoys the support of eighteen scheduled venues, not including the four shows already completed. And Gargamel Music says it is working to reschedule shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston.