Elton John is ignoring calls for him to can a gig headlining Morocco’s biggest music festival this week. Influential Islamic conservatives have called for him to be turned away from performing at the Mawazine World Rhythms festival in the capital, Rabat, this week, saying he’ll tarnish the image of the north African Kingdom.
Festival organiser Aziz Daki told Reuters: “Elton John is one of the best artists in the world. He is great and extraordinary when he appears on stage. That’s why we invite him and welcome him to the Mawazine festival. The private life of a singer is not our business. We do not invite singers and artists after assessing their private lives.” Elton has been a staunch supporter of sexual freedom and has campaigned against the spread of AIDS over the last twenty years.
The festival is backed by Morocco’s King Mohammed, and brings together musicians from 50 countries, with this year’s headliners including other bastions of heterosexuality such as Mika and errr, lothario Julio Iglesias. It will run from May 21 to 29. Islamists have lashed out at it saying such events encourage sex, drugs and alcohol consumption, corrupting Islamic values.
Mustapha Ramid, a parliamentarian from the opposition Islamist PJD party, did his best to promote tourism to the poverty stricken country saying “We asked the government to exclude this person from the list of artists invited to this festival. This man — sorry, I should say this person, not this man — is known for bragging about his homosexuality” He stuck his head further into the desert sand saying “Morocco is an Islamic state where stages should not used to allow a person with such a degree of debauchery to perform because we have to shield the young from such influences.”
