Gaga nixes Indonesia concert as ‘chaos’ threatened

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – Pop megastar Lady Gaga has cancelled her June 3 Born This Way Ball in Indonesia in the face of threats of “chaos.”

An Associated Press (AP) report says the group, Islamic Defenders Front, labelled Gaga a “messenger of the devil” and threatened to show up at the airport if she got off her flight. The report notes that opponents of the sold-out Jakarta concert said they bought tickets just to gain entry into the show’s 50,000-seat venue to instigate trouble. The police then denied the requisite permits for the show; they partially reneged after public outcry but wanted Gaga to tone down her performance.

Instead, Mother Monster decided to give Indonesia a pass but promised disappointed fans she’d “try to put together something special” for them. “My love for Indonesia has only grown,” she tweeted.

A lawyer for Big Daddy, the Born This Way Ball promoter, told media that the concert’s cancellation was “unfortunate.”

“This is not only about Lady Gaga’s security but extends to those who will be watching her,” Minola Sebayang said.

This is not the first hiccough Gaga’s Asian tour has confronted. In the Philippines, scores of young Christians rallied against the singer’s concert, with the authorities promising they wouldn’t allow nudity or lewd behaviour, AP reported. And in Seoul, South Korea, fans younger than 18 were barred from attending Gaga’s concerts after complaints that her songs and costuming were “too sexually provocative,” AP noted.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

Keep Reading

A still image of Anne, played by Amybeth McNulty, in braids and a coat, looking at another child in Anne with an E.

Why the adaptation ‘Anne with an E’ speaks to queers and misfits of all kinds

The modern interpretation of Anne of Green Gables reflected queer and gender-diverse people’s lives back at them 
Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Perez in Emilia Perez. Gascón wears black with colourful embroidery, has long hair, and a brown purse and delicate chain.

Trans cartel musical ‘Emilia Pérez’ takes maximalist aesthetic to the extreme

REVIEW: The film’s existence raises intriguing questions about appropriate subjects for the playful machinations of French auteurs
Dorothy Allison sits behind a microphone. She has long, light-coloured hair and wears glasses and a patterned button-up shirt.

5 things to know about Dorothy Allison

The lesbian feminist writer passed on Nov. 6

‘Solemates’ is a barefoot stroll through the history of our fetish for feet

Queer historian Adam Zmith’s newest book allows us to dip our toes into the past of a common, yet stigmatized, kink