After the news was reported that Jennifer Lopez took to the stage and sang happy-birthday to the Turkmenistan President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the singer/actress has been clarifying her role in the matter.
The problem that human-rights activists have with the celebration is that Turkmenistan President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow has an infamous history of being an oppressive ruler and has many claims of human-rights violations put against him. As you can imagine this did not sit well with many people when it was reported that Lopez sang “Happy Birthday” to the 56-year-old ruler. Now that criticism for Lopez’s role in the ordeal have been made public, Lopez is clarifying the situation.
E! News obtain this statement from Lopez’s camp stating that her performance was scheduled through the “China National Petroleum Corporation that was presented to their local executives in Turkmenistan. [And] was not a government sponsored event or political in nature.”
The statement further reads. “The event was vetted by her representatives, had there been knowledge of human rights issues of any kind, Jennifer would not have attended.” The song was performed when “the China National Petroleum Corporation made a last minute ‘birthday greeting’ request prior to Jennifer taking the stage.”
In the future we suggest that no one should sing happy-birthday to unknown leaders when abroad.
