Jennifer Lopez held a concert in Turkmenistan on Sunday where she sang happy birthday to the country’s dictator, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. One problem: he runs one of the most oppressive governments in the world, pretty much right after North Korea. Apparently Jennifer Lopez and her people don’t know how to use the Internet. Or a TV.
Lopez even tweeted to her Turkmenistan fans when she arrived there, but, oops, Turkmenistan blocks Twitter. To put Turkmenistan in perspective, the Washington Post quoted one Asia scholar, after a visit to Pyongyang, as saying that North Korea is “Turkmenistan without the oil.”
Reports Radar —
“Had there been knowledge of human rights issues any kind, Jennifer would not have attended,” her rep said in a statement.
So apparently it’s money first ($1.5 million), checking on whether human rights are being violated in the country is way, way down the list when choosing concert venues for J-Lo. Maybe next time a country asks for a concert they’ll at least check Wikipedia first.