It’s not every day that you hear of a music concert being cancelled by an entire country, but Malaysia is certainly sending a message to U.S. pop star Kesha that her material is not wanted in their region. Apparently seeing right through the Illuminati symbolism and religious mockery, the predominately Muslim country has decided that her recently scheduled concert would flare up cultural and religious sensitivities. Therefore, her Saturday concert in Malaysia scheduled for this past Saturday was abruptly cancelled by authorities for the country.
On the eve of the show, which was scheduled for a Saturday performance at a Kuala Lumpur stadium, the concert organizer Livescape was told in the form of a letter about their desire to keep the singer from performing her show. In a separate announcement, the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia stated that they had rejected the application for Kesha to perform in the country for ‘reasons of religion and culture.’ With explicit lyrics that make references to sex, recklessness and alcohol, the statement released by the Ministry did not go into specific details about why Kesha’s concert was cancelled.
Even in the United States, Kesha has been met with controversy over the messages sent to the younger populations though her songs and music videos, especially with her hit ‘Die Young.’ Although Kesha and her management team had already agreed to make a handful of changes for their anticipated show in Malaysia, it seems that the country still doesn’t trust in the message and persona that Kesha represents.
The Malaysian government is known for having general guidelines for its performers, but despite agreeing to change song lyrics and tweaks to her wardrobe, officials still did not want Kesha to perform in their country.
According to concert promoters, the ban on Kesha’s performance will cause Livescape to lose more than 1.1 million ringgit (which equals $350,000 in the U.S.). The company spoke of the Malaysian government’s need to “engage in a productive dialogue” with concert promoters so that incidents like this will not take place in the future.
Kesha isn’t the only musician or group to have a performance barred in the country. Malaysian officials also nixed a concert scheduled for American metal band Lamb of God, which happened to formally go by the name of Burn the Priest. The Grammy-nominated group often supports themes that offer a double meaning, where Biblical references are often made yet have an anti-religious tone or message. Malaysian officials accused the group of producing blasphemous work regarding an Intro with lyrics that seemed to give praise to the Quran and Allah:
“The Most Gracious / Teacher of the Al-Quran / Creator of the human beings / He taught them how to distinguish / The sun and the moon are perfectly calculated … O humans and jinns, which of your Lord’s marvels can you deny?”
It’s no wonder that Kesha has been banned from performing in Malaysia. She often inserts religious symbolism that mocks or offends the religious (such as upside down crosses), Illuminati-related symbolism and messages, Satanic references, as well as sends culturally disturbing messages about today’s youth culture that encourage reckless, dangerous behavior.