This has been going on for a very long time now. You hear about it every New Year's Eve and when any rich person with ties to evil has a birthday party or their kids have massive Bar Mitzvah's or Sweet Sixteens.
And it's not just singers. In 2008 a bunch of actors and others showed up in Dubai for some event and they were all paid handsomely for ... well nothing, really.
Finally, though, someone is speaking out (Rolling Stone):
"When I saw Beyoncé and Usher and whoever else was out partying with these Libyan criminals … these are people who have stolen tens of billions of dollars from their nation," says Howie Klein, former president of Reprise Records who is now a prominent leftist blogger. "What they all have in common is they're all kleptocracies – they've got a family stealing all the money. And for very, very wealthy American and British pop stars to take part in this kind of thing makes me want to puke."
"People put a big paycheck on the table, and people don't consider where the money is coming from, or what they're at least passively endorsing," adds David T. Viecelli, agent for Arcade Fire and many other acts. "I don't want to specifically say Beyoncé or Mariah Carey behaved unethically, because I don't know all the details. But if it's true that Muammar Qaddafi's son says, 'I've got $50 million, come and play for my buddies,' I really think you have to say no to that. Given what we know about Qaddafi and what his rule has been about, you have to willfully turn a blind eye in order to accept that money, and I don't think it's ethical."
Read Klein's blog at this link.
If I were a concertgoer or a consumer of music from any of these people I would stop, now. I haven't listened seriously to Beyonce since the whole "to the left, to the left" thing. Mariah ... she still records? Really?
Video on this from CNN, also featuring my social media friend Steve Clemons from The Washington Note and the New America Foundation discussing the wildlife at the Gaddafi compound (actual wildlife, he had a tiger there).
Mr. Usher Raymond Jr., you should be ashamed of yourself. And you too, Lionel Ritchie. And all y'all who have scads of cash in reserve and still say yes to these gigs.
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