Jennifer Lopez accidentally sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to a dictator this weekend, thanks to an agent who apparently didn’t know the birthday boy was an authoritarian ruler. Oops.
The actress and singer has issued an apology, as CBS News reported, after finding out the hard way that it pays to know one’s audience. Lopez performed the birthday ditty for the leader of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, at a show in the country on Saturday. But she and her staff apparently didn’t realize that Berdimuhamedow is a dictator.
“Had there been knowledge of human rights issues any kind, Jennifer would not have attended,” Lopez’s publicist said in a statement released Sunday to The Associated Press.
The ‘Happy Birthday’ performance was a last-minute request by China National Petroleum Corp., the host of the event, according to the statement. The singer “graciously obliged” to the desire.
The former Soviet republic’s authoritarian government is known as one of “the most repressive in the world,” as NPR reported.
Lopez won’t be performing any more shows in Turkmenistan, her publicist said, and her compensation for this concert is unknown.
