Gun safety activists in the U.S. have taken aim at Beyonce, Lady GaGa and Lil Wayne ahead of the trio's performances at Sunday (31Jan10) night's Grammy awards - urging the stars to stop using prop pistols during their live stage shows.
Beyonce and Gaga, who is scheduled to open the show, caught the attention of gun safety group the Brady Campaign with the video for their hit single Video Phone, which featured the pair wielding fake firearms.
President Paul Helmke writes on the company's website: "The music was fine, but I wonder why they went out of their way to glorify guns in their production. Beyond the sexual stereotype of guns in general, it's hard to understand why they are in the video at all."
The pair and rapper Lil Wayne, who is set to begin an eight-month prison sentence in February (10) on gun charges, are scheduled to take to the stage for music's biggest awards night - and the activists are urging the artists not to promote violence.
Helmke adds, "I can hear people say, 'Hey, it's just show business,' and that Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne each put on a good show. I understand that. Yet it is difficult to deny the influence that these entertainers have on our popular culture and the young people who absorb it. Guns aren't toys, even when they're made with pretty colors or sung about in rap songs, and it is dangerous to treat them that way. It is a deadly problem that more of us - including celebrities - should take seriously."