Music is hailed to be a universal language; it brings together people from all across the world. It has a legion of fans that are not divided by country, color, race, class or creed. Now, music may not have any boundaries but the ones who sing or compose it definitely do. Singers and musicians are humans and at times when they toe the line, they find themselves facing dire circumstances which include being prohibited from ever entering certain countries.
Here is a list of some well-known musicians who had to face the music of their misconduct on foreign soil.
#1.Björk, China
The Icelandic singer is famous not only for her style of music but also for her unusual costumes and the themes featured in her music videos. She has a penchant for pushing limits as far as art is concerned but her self-proclaimed act of revolution landed herself in trouble. She landed in hot waters after shouting Tibet! Tibet! at the end of her concert in Shanghai that took place in 2008. The passionate outburst didn’t go down well with the Chinese government that saw fit to ban Bjork from ever performing in their nation.
(Image Courtesy: Pinterest)
#2.Beyonce, Malaysia
Queen Bee is the most sought after singer in the industry and her concerts see fan pouring over in droves but one country feels that the firebrand performer is perhaps a bit too much for their traditional taste and has banned her from ever performing on their soil. Malaysia has a prominent Muslim majority and for them, Beyonce’s provocative attires and dance style is simply not acceptable. The All The Single Ladies singer was given guidelines that included being covered from head to toe and not showing any cleavage during her performance and not only her choice of costume but her dance style was regulated by the authorities. This was simply not acceptable to Beyonce and hence she was banned from ever performing in Malaysia.
(Image Courtesy: Comic Vine)
#3.Snoop Dogg, Norway, UK, Australia, Netherlands
The man who openly condones the use of marijuana which is a running theme in most of his rap songs cannot avoid trouble for long. Whatever Snoop Dogg does, he does it big and the story is same with being banned. The star has a growing list of places that he is banned from which includes Norway, UK, Australia, and Netherlands. He got banned from Norway for smuggling marijuana, he was banned from the UK for 4 years after his crew vandalized a duty-free shop after being denied access to the first class lounge. He was banned from Australia for a year due to his past criminal records and is forever banned from performing at the Parkpop Festival in Netherlands.
(Image Courtesy: PinsDaddy)
#4. Lady Gaga, China
This one has a style so outrageous that it is no surprise that not everyone can handle her. The mother monster has always done things her way and left people in awe, shock, and wonder. This diva is a big hit among her fans but has certainly evoked the irate of a certain fraction of people which includes the Chinese and Indonesian government. The singer is banned from the former after a video of her meeting Dalai Lama surfaced online and the latter feels she is way too provocative for their traditional Muslim community.
(Image Courtesy: Asian Correspondent)
#5. Akon, Sri Lanka
The singer landed in hot soup with the Sri Lankan government after the release of the video for David Guetta’s song Sexy Chick which has his vocals. The song featured a lot of scantily clad women dancing in front of the Buddha statue which was taken as a sign of major disrespect by the Buddhist community of Sri Lanka. In addition to that, the lyrics of the song were considered unsuitable for the public.
(Image Courtesy: The Express Tribune)
#6. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, India
(Gif Courtesy: Make A Gif.com)
The ties between India and neighboring country Pakistan have always been strained and frequent terror attacks and infiltration by terrorists from across the border resulted in the ban of Pakistani performing artists in India. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has performed in several shows that were held on Indian soil and has lent his voice to many famous and commercially successful Bollywood songs but he is now prohibited from performing in India ever again.
(Image Courtesy: BizAsia)
#7.Madonna, Egypt
The Queen of pop has been the most popular and acclaimed singer and performer to have ever graced the stage. Her shows have a unique appeal and people look forward to her performance but the star has got herself banned from Egypt and is not allowed to perform there. The ban came in 2004 following her visit to Israel with whom Egypt has always shared a strained relationship.
(Image Courtesy: Fox News)
#8. Justin Bieber, Argentina
No, Argentina did not ban the young singer for his music but he instead got on the wrong side of the law by assaulting a photographer in Buenos Aires in 2013. This alleged crime earned him a warrant that would land him in jail if he ever turns up in Argentina again.
(Image Courtesy:GQ)
#9. Miley Cyrus, China
China seems to really enjoy imposing bans on artists but at least, in this case, the ban was not for political reasons but personal. It’s hard to keep a tab on the several outrageous things that have been done by Miley Cyrus, though many of her actions bordered on profanity and didn’t go down well with a lot of people; but it was one picture that got her into trouble with Chinese government, the star had posed along with her friends in a picture where her actions could only be seen as demeaning to the Asian people.
(Image Courtesy: Playbuzz)
#10 The Beatles, Philippines
The most famous rock band had courted its fair share of controversies which includes rubbing the local of Philippines the wrong way. The band had unknowingly insulted the First Lady of the country and this had earned them a ban from ever performing in the Philippines.
(Image Courtesy: NME)
#11 Bob Dylan, China
The famous singer is also well known for his work as an activist and humanitarian. The Chinese government was concerned over the sort of influence he and his songs would have on the tense political atmosphere of the country. The ban was lifted in 2011.
(Image Courtesy: The Key)
#12 Oasis, China
The group was denied the right to perform on stage in 2009 due to suggested links with the Free Tibet movement. One of the band members had previously performed for this cause along with U2 and Coldplay in 1997.
(Image Courtesy: Irish News)
#13 50 Cent, Canada
It’s hard to imagine that a friendly and easy going nation like Canada would ever ban any artist but the unlikely thing happened when the nation felt that it was important to ban Curtis Jackson III aka rapper 50 Cent in 2005 owing to his many criminal records.
(Image Courtesy: Billboard)
#14 Rolling Stones, Cleveland
The band has a huge list of controversies that were a part and parcel of their career so the band getting banned from performing in a country should not come as a surprise. It was their performance in Cleveland in 1964 that resulted in a terrible incident after girls rushed on the stage. The government felt that such a trouble creating group will only stir problems in the future and not add anything to the community and hence barred them from ever performing.
(Image Courtesy: BBC)
#15 Chris Brown, Great Britain
The country takes domestic abuse seriously and after the allegations against Chris Brown for assaulting Rhianna, the singer was barred from the country in 2011
(Image Courtesy: Billboard)
(Gif Courtesy: Giphy)
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