Lady Gaga Gagged! Filipino Protesters Call Her the “Anti-Christ”
Just two days after Islamic protests convinced Indonesian officials to ban Lady Gaga from performing her scheduled concerts, authorities in the Philippines are threatening to cancel even more dates on her Asian tour.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, police officials told Bloomberg that they denied her June concert permits because “She’s too vulgar and the concert does not fit with our culture.” One group of protesters, reportedly calling themselves the Islamic Defenders Front, said “Lady Gaga’s performances were pornography and that her purpose was to destroy the country’s morals.”
Now, another heavily religious population is protesting Gaga’s upcoming “Born This Way” tour dates, this time in the Philippines, reports The Huffington Post. Members of a Christian youth group there called Biblemode Youth Philippines, have organized rallies asking for her concerts in Pasay City to be canceled. ABS-CBNnews reports that protesters in Manila have resorted to calling Gaga “the anti-christ.”
But so far the Pasay City Mayor has assured them only that Lady Gaga will be under strict guidelines not to “provide [or] exhibit any nudity or lewd conduct which may be offensive to morals and good customs."
Unlike America and our handy First Amendment, the penal code in the Philippines dictates that people can be punished with jail time just for “offending race and religion.”
Gaga is one of the loudest arbiters of freedom, specifically artistic freedom. On one hand, we wonder why she would even consider performing in such a restrictive environment. Then again, she’s always been fearless. But is she reckless, too?
Do you think Gaga should go through with the concerts under the proposed Filipino restrictions, or should she pack up and come home?
Sources: Bloomberg, The Huffington Post, ABS-CBNnews
Molly Friedman is an editor at Wetpaint Entertainment. Follow her on Twitter @MollyFriedman.
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