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After scrolling through Erykah Badu’s Twitter feed last night, it seems the concert scheduled for today has been canceled after all.
She held a press conference in Kuala Lampur earlier to address the issues that lead up to the cancellation, and beyond the bigger issue of art, religion and where the two can intersect in a Muslim country, there is something to be said about her Malaysian fans taking to a social network like Twitter to express their outrage over the ban. Malaysia’s information minister is sticking to it, however, so as not to cause “social excitement” if the concert went on.
This chunk of press conference was passed along by her manager, and you can sort of piece it together if you scroll through her Twitter, but it sheds some light on where she was coming from:
My fav film maker is alejandro jodorowsky. He made a movie called The holy mountain in the 70s. 1 of his characters is called the painted lady … She wore all symbols and names of God on her body. I posed as her in a photo shoot for New Am pt2. This idea embodies who we ALL are.. One … This photo was chosen & edited by the promoters here in Malaysia. They were very responsible to the people and Muslim beliefs … One particular paper retrieved an unedited photo and printed it along with its article.. This is where the upset began …The gov. Of Malaysia had to be responsible to its people’s beliefs .. Even If it were just 1 or 2 complaints. I understand. It’s an election year … Keep in mind.
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Badu is scheduled to play a jazz festival in Jakarta this weekend.
