Mariah Carey Under Fire For Angola Concert, Accepting ‘Dictator Cash’
Mariah Carey is catching heat from a human rights group for her recent concert in Angola.
The singer reportedly performed a two-hour concert for President José Eduardo dos Santos over the weekend. The show was put together to help benefit the Angolan Red Cross. However, not everyone is happy that Carey decided to accept money from a well-known African human rights violator.
According to ABC News, President dos Santos is responsible for the deaths of countless politicians, activists, and reporters since rising to power in 1979. He reportedly opposes anyone who has a problem with the way he conducts business in Angola.
Since the president is responsible for so many awful things, the folks at the Human Rights Foundation aren’t exactly pleased that Mariah Carey was willing to perform in the country on Sunday. The organization also took issue with the singer’s concert for the family of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi five years ago.
“Mariah Carey can’t seem to get enough dictator cash, reportedly more than $1 million this time… Now, she goes from private performances to public displays of support and credibility for one of Africa’s chief human rights violators and most corrupt tyrants,” Human Rights Foundation president Thor Halvorssen explained in a recent statement on the matter.
He continued, “It is the sad spectacle of an international artist purchased by a ruthless police state to entertain and whitewash the father-daughter kleptocracy that has amassed billions in ill-gotten wealth while the majority of Angola lives on less than $2 a day.”
President José Eduardo dos Santos’ daughter heads up the mobile phone company Unitel, which co-sponsored the event. She also serves as the president for the Angolan Red Cross.
Although Mariah Carey is catching heat from the Human Rights Foundation for her recent trip to Angola, the singer hasn’t officially responded to the criticism as of this writing. However, it’s probably just a matter of time before a statement comes down the PR pipeline.
OMG: Mariah Carey é criticada por Direitos Humanos da Angola… pic.twitter.com/zbsctq4pec
— Pop-Online (@PopOnline2) December 20, 2013
E! Online reports that Mariah Carey issued an apology in 2011 for the concert she performed for Moammar Gadhafi’s family back in 2009. The singer claimed that she really had no idea she was hired to sing for the dictator’s relatives.
“I feel horrible and embarrassed to have participated in this mess. Ultimately we as artists are to be held accountable. Going forward, this is a lesson for all artists to learn from. We need to be more aware and take more responsibility regardless of who books our shows,” Carey explained in a statement at the time.
The Inquisitr previously reported that Jennifer Lopez came under fire earlier this year for singing “Happy Birthday” to the president of Turkmenistan. She later issued an apology for performing for one of the world’s most notorious human rights violators.
What do you think about Mariah Carey performing for a notorious human rights violator?
[Image via Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com]
