Jennifer Lopez Takes Heat For Singing 'Happy Birthday' To Dictator
Jennifer Lopez has long been known for her humanitarian efforts and her work with organizations such as Amnesty International. Now, however, it appears that she has recently sung a "Happy Birthday" song for Turkmenistan's leader, a notorious abuser of human rights.
On Saturday night Lopez, 43, was in the former Soviet bloc country to celebrate the birthday of Turkmenistan's president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. Since 2006, Turkmenistan has been the country voted by Human Rights Watch as one of the most repressive nations in the world.
"Lopez obviously has the right to earn a living performing for the dictator of her choice and his circle of cronies, but her actions utterly destroy the carefully-crafted message she has cultivated with her prior involvement with Amnesty International's programs in Mexico aimed at curbing violence against women," Thor Halvorssen, president of the Human Rights Foundation, wrote in a statement.
As if the assessment wasn't damning enough, Halvorssen continued his verbal onslaught against the international pop star. He wondered out loud how many more notorious figures she would see fit to perform for.
"What is the next stop on her tour, Syria? The dictator of Kazakhstan's birthday is July 6, maybe she will also pay him a visit?"
So far Lopez's camp has remained quiet and remorseful over the incident. Though Lopez has yet to make a formal statement herself, her representatives have stated that she had no idea about how repressive Berdimuhamedow has been as the leader of Turkmenistan.
"Had there been knowledge of human rights issues [of] any kind, Jennifer would not have attended," a spokesperson for Jennifer Lopez told the Associated Press.
The former American Idol judge had been commissioned by a Chinese corporation to perform at an event they were holding in the country. As a last minute request, Lopez was asked to sing "Happy Birthday" to the president, which she dutifully obliged. The birthday song was not the main reason why she had been present at the event.