Indonesia: Lady Gaga’s sold-out show is canceled
Indonesian activists protest American pop diva Lady Gaga’s upcoming concert in Jakarta on April 29, 2012. The country’s Islamic religious figures have denounced her coming June 3 concert as an abomination.
Lady Gaga's June 3 "Born This Way Ball" in Jakarta had already sold out of its 52,000 tickets. But in the end, police were concerned that they could not guarantee security at the concert. They decided to cancel the show, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"Their permit had been denied," police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told the WSJ. "They have no permit to do the show, so it would be illegal."
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Police denied that they were backing down in the face of threats from the radical group Islamic Defenders Front. The group threatened to mobilize 30,000 people to intercept Lady Gaga at the airport, and said they would violently protest at her concert, the Brisbane Times reported.
"She's a vulgar singer who wears only panties and a bra when she sings and she stated she is the envoy of the devil's child and that she will spread satanic teaching," Salim Alatas, the Jakarta head of the Islamic Defenders Front, told Reuters. "This is dangerous."
Indonesia has a history of religious tolerance, the Associated Press reported. But a small, extremist fringe of hard-line Islamic groups have loudly protested against Lady Gaga's planned Jakarta show, saying her provocative clothes would harm the country.
Indonesia's Lady Gaga fans are not happy, and it's not clear if the tickets will be refunded.
"I'm very disappointed," Mariska Renata, who had tickets to the Jakarta show, told the AP.
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