US pop stars Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande were on an “offensive lyrics” list presented to members of parliament in socially conservative Singapore as part of a statement by the city-state’s minister of home affairs on hate speech.
Monday’s statement came nearly a month after Swedish death metal group Watain’s concert was banned in Singapore on concerns about the band’s history of “denigrating religions and promoting violence.”
Singapore keeps a tight rein on public speech and the media, especially when it comes to race and religion matters.
Photo: EPA-EFE
A photograph of the statement on “restricting hate speech” was late on Monday posted on Facebook by opposition lawmaker Chen Show Mao with the caption “lesson of the day.”
The post had been shared more than 1,000 times and received hundreds of comments by yesterday afternoon.
The list cited Lady’s Gaga’s Judas and Ariana Grande’s God is a Woman, alongside songs Heresy by Nine Inch Nails and Take me to the Church by Hozier as “illustrations of offensive lyrics.”
Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande have both held concerts in Singapore and the list did not suggest any of these artists would be banned from performing again.
The Singaporean Ministry of Home Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
The statement came on a day Singapore submitted wide-ranging fake news legislation in parliament, stoking fears from Internet firms and human rights groups that it might give the government too much power and hinder freedom of speech.
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