Beyonce decides she'd rather keep her Freakum Dress than play in Kuala Lumpar.
Beyonce Knowles refuses to alter show for Muslim authorities in Malaysia and has cancelled her show scheduled in Kuala Lumpur.
Contact Music and Religion of Peace reported:
BEYONCE KNOWLES's upcoming concert in Malaysia has been cancelled, reportedly after the R+B superstar refused to tone down her stage show in order to perform.
The singer had been due to make her debut in Kuala Lumpur in November (07), but was recently warned by organisers to cover up onstage to avoid offending fans in the predominantly Muslim country. Speaking in August (07), Razlan Ahmad Razali, the chairman of Pineapple Concerts, said, "We've informed Beyonce's management about this issue of clothes... Beyonce won't be able to do the kind of show here that she does elsewhere." Malaysian students recently threatened to boycott a concert by Gwen Stefani, because of her raunchy reputation, but Stefani toned down her show accordingly.
Stefani acted cowardly, or perhaps more to the point she was just too greedy to give up the revenue one of her shows generates, while Knowles set a better precedent by refusing to be bullied by "student leaders".
ReplyDeleteWhile no fan of her music or the kind of show she puts on, I applaud her for having a backbone.
yAt times I think that Dinesh D'Souza may be correct - and that it is our crass, urban culture that rankles the traditional cultures of Africa, Asia, America and Arabia.
ReplyDeleteIf so, then maybe America's poor polling in conservative nations all around the world denotes not a fear of American Capitalism, nor worries of US military hegemony, but instead, a popular and rational aversion to our society's permissiveness that we in the West should pay a lot more attention to.
In Malaysians' defense, they have challenged Beonce, a modern, urban, pop-performer, to "get real" and drop the sexualized trappings. And her decision to back-down in the face of this challenge was both ungracious and short-sighted.
Ungracious because, had she played Kuala Lumpur on schedule with a toned-down performance, she would have performed the same social grace - at an international event - that most folks would perform unsolicitously at, say, a neighborhood kid's birthday party.
And revelatory, and potentially beneficial because her stage-act, shorn of its cultural antagonisms (which manifest most often as sexualized pan-dramatics), would quickly reveal whether this very pretty lady with perfect hightlights can really sing and really dance.
Now, we may never know for sure.
steveaz
excuse me but can i just say, if they are FANS, then they PAID good money to buy a ticket to see theis concert, in the USA. it would be a very pretty penny to see her, I can only imagin the cost to your average Malaysian,, and my point is this,, if they arr FANS who PAY, they know who and what they ate going to see, they want very badly to see it and so how can they be offended???? this make no sense to me at al, not at all, the people who go want to be there, theones who weill be offended are NOT FANS AND WILL NOT BE THERE TO SEE HER,, GRRRRRR STUPID STUPID WORLD WE LIVE IN, I never had the desire to purchaes one of her records before, but I think I will now. YOU GO GIRL
ReplyDelete"and that it is our crass, urban culture that rankles the traditional cultures of Africa, Asia, America and Arabia."
ReplyDeleteif our culture is the root cause of their hatred, why is is that the rest of the world only seems interested in more American culture. It's terribly ironic that a group of self-described student leaders are protesting a concert that is sold out...
I'm kinda tired of hearing the "we're the reason why they hate us" excuse. American culture is what it is because individuals are free to create and consume what they want, as opposed to most of the rest of the world where someone else has to approve it.
good for her...
ReplyDelete