Jenny from the Eastern Bloc: Jennifer Lopez is pictured here performing
at a lavish concert for Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly
Berdimuhamedow's 56th birthday
Move over Jenny from the Block. Now, Jennifer Lopez is 'Jenny from the Bloc.'
The
singer was forced to apologize after a concert in Turkmenistan on
Satruday night because she sang 'Happy Birthday' to the repressive
dictator of the country's brutal oppressive regime.
Lopez
reportedly changed into a traditional Turkmen outfit during her show
and personally serenaded Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow - whose government is
accused of arbitrarily arresting and torturing political dissidents.
Human Rights Watch ranks Turkmenistan as
'among the most repressive in the world.' The human rights group says
the former Soviet republic imposes 'draconian restrictions on freedom of
expression and association.'
The group also reports that
'President Berdymukhamedov, his relatives, and associates enjoy
unlimited power and total control over all aspects of public life.'
The
concert was sponsored by China National Petroleum Corp - a major
investor in Turmenistan's booming gas industry - was meant to celebrate
Berdimuhamedo's 56th birthday.
Lopez
released a statement after the concert apologizing for signing for the
president and saying she never would have attended to concert if she had
known the country's human rights record.
The statement said the event was
vetted by Lopez's representatives, but she wouldn't have attended if she
had known about the accusations.
According
to the statement, the birthday song was a last-minute request made by
the company to Lopez and she 'graciously obliged.'
It appears that JLo and her entourage were blithely unaware of the deplorable conditions in the country.
The
former American Idol judge's choreographer J.R. Taylor tweeted: 'The
Turkmenistan Breeze feels amazing at night Kidz! I wonder were [sic] all
my Turkmenistan followers are!? Hit me up!'
That
remark came in for fierce criticism from human rights watchers, who
pointed out that nearly all social media - including Twitter - is
blocked in Turkmenistan.
The tweet was later deleted.
'Singing
happy birthday to dictators while dissidents and journalists die in
their torture chambers? Still Jenny from the block, @JLo?' Ronan Farrow,
the celebrity human rights lawyer tweeted.
The concert took place in at a $2billion resort and yacht club on the Caspian Sea that Berdimuhamedow had opened just the day before.
Lopez wore a clingy, short dress and leggings and shook her world-famous bottom alongside half-naked backup dancers.
The
glitzy performance for a rarity to the Muslim-majority country of five
million people. In attendance were government ministers, the heads of
state-owned companies and foreign dignitaries. All of them clapped
enthusiastically for the 43-year-old singer.
After
her show, she appeared on stage in a traditional Turkmen dress
alongside stars from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and China to sing 'Happy
Birthday, Mr President' to Berdimuhamedow.
'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,' Human Rights Foundation president Thor
Halvorssen said in a statement.
Investors: The concert was sponsored by China National Petroleum Corp at
the Caspian Sea resort town of Awaza, Turkmenistan. President
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was in attendance
The president opened a $2billion resort in Awaza on the Caspian Sea the day before he JLo's performance there
Human Rights Watch report that Berdymukhamedov and his family enjoy 'unlimited power' in the country
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