Badu concert banned due to Allah tattoo
Malaysia has banned a planned concert by Erykah Badu over a photograph showing the Grammy-winning singer with the Arabic word for Allah written on her body.
The American R&B singer was scheduled to perform in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, but some Muslim groups said Badu was an unsuitable role model for young Malaysians after seeing a publicity photo of her with what appeared to be temporary tattoos of the word Allah on her bare shoulders.
A Malaysian government committee that monitors concerts decided to forbid Badu’s show because she has “offended the religious sensitivities” in the Muslim-majority country by posing with such tattoos.
The 41-year-old Dallas-born singer has already arrived in Malaysia. She can remain there as a tourist but will not be allowed to perform.
Razman Razali, managing director of the show’s Malaysian organiser Pineapple Concerts, said his company was in contact with government officials and hoped the ban would be reversed.
Badu is “worried and dismayed”, Mr Razman said. She was slated to perform in an auditorium that can hold about 3,000 spectators.
It is the first concert by a Western performer to be banned in Malaysia in recent years.
Several other stars, including Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne, were warned by officials to dress modestly for their shows to proceed.
The photograph of Badu, which also appears on her official fan website, attracted attention after Malaysia’s most widely read English-language daily, The Star, published it yesterday.
Today, the newspaper apologised to Muslims for what it called an “oversight”, saying it deeply regretted any offence caused by the photo, which was “inadvertently published”.
The home ministry summoned the Star’s editors to explain the photograph, which caused some Muslim activists to demand the newspaper’s suspension.
