By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, June 28: American pop sensation Lady Gaga has become the latest celebrity to be blacklisted by the Chinese government following her meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama who is reviled by China as a “splittist.”
China’s Propaganda Department has banned her after she posted a picture with the Tibetan leader at the 84th Annual Meeting of the US Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis over the weekend. The authorities have also given strict directives to websites and media houses to ‘stop uploading or distributing her songs.’
‘Poker Face’ singer interviewed the Dalai Lama in a live streamed video through Facebook before his keynote address to the mayors in Indianapolis on Sunday.
The Propaganda Department also issued orders for state-run media houses to condemn the meeting.
The singer who has a sizeable number of fans in China is likely to lose some of her fan-base due to her meeting with the spiritual leader. Weibo users accused her of being ‘insensitive’ towards Chinese politics and also her giving up on the Chinese market.
The picture of Lady Gaga with the 80-year old leader is also banned in China.
Lady Gaga was banned from China previously in 2011 for ‘being vulgar’. However, her ban was lifted in January 2014 after three years in the blacklist.
Numerous international singers and artistes have been banned or their concerts scrapped just by associating or posting a picture with the Tibetan spiritual leader. The infamous list also includes Bon Jovi, Maroon 5, Oasis, Bjork and Selena Gomez.
In April this year, Selena Gomez’s China tour was canceled due to her picture with the exiled Tibetan leader, which she posted in 2014. Similarly, last year Beijing pulled the plug on Jon Bon Jovi’s first ever concert in China over the use of the Dalai Lama’s picture at a concert in Taiwan in 2010.
Hollywood actors such as Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone and Director of Kundun, Martin Scorsese are also prohibited from going to China due to their association with the Dalai Lama or Tibet issue.
