Avril Lavigne Refused by Malaysia

Posted by Chrissie on August 21st, 2008 filed in Avril Lavigne, Music

From the sounds of it, Avril Lavigne has not had too much luck pleasing her fans this year, no matter where they may be located. This year she had to cancel a run of 6 concerts in order to heal from a bout of laryngitis which was said to disappoint many of her groupies. Just recently, the country of Malaysia has strongly urged her to cancel her scheduled concert there citing the all too often used ‘too sexy’ reason.

Avril was expected to begin a month long tour in Asia next week, beginning on Friday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but Malaysia’s Islamic opposition thinks her on stage antics are far too liberal for the Muslim nation. They used the excuse that Malaysian’s Independence Day was arriving on August 31, and that Avril’s concert would not promote the values that country has worked so hard to employ.

It is considered too sexy for us. … It’s not good for viewers in Malaysia,” said Kamarulzaman Mohamed, a party official. “We don’t want our people, our teenagers, influenced by their performance. We want clean artists, artists that are good role models.”

A protest letter has been sent to the Culture, Arts, and Heritage Ministry, as well as to the Kuala Lumpur mayor. As it stands now, an ‘official’ who wishes to remain anonymous, says the government has not given permission for the concert yet. Is that not a little odd to anyone? I mean….hm. Would a concert be booked, even in a foreign country, without approval from the government *in some way* first?

Something funny there….BUT, there may be hope yet. Yet another spokesman of the country says there is relative confidence in getting the permit, that *most* communication has been positive. HOWEVER this is another spokesman in Malaysia that is citing ‘protocol’ as a reason for wishing to remain anonymous.

Ok, I gotta know, what happens to the Malaysians when they are caught talking to the press??

If in fact the concert is a go, Avril will have to wear clothing without obscene or drug related images, and will need to be covered from the chest to the knees. She also won’t be able to jump, shout, hug, or kiss ANYONE in public.

Again, this is all too weird to me. Wasn’t a season of Survivor filmed there? From my recollection, that alone is a show where hugging, jumping, shouting, and kissing, occurs frequently. Furthermore, Survivor castaways are also definitely NOT covered from chest to knees at ANY given moment. Weird!

Source