After raising ire for what some viewed as a racist and “culturally appropriative” Asian-themed performance at the American Music Awards, pop singer Katy Perry has once again stirred anger along cultural lines, this time irking Muslims with her new music video for Prism single Dark Horse.
Bradford, UK resident Shazad Iqbal has launched a petition on change.org, requesting YouTube remove the Dark Horse video on the grounds that it is blasphemous, due to a scene around the 1:15 mark in which a pendant bearing the word “Allah,” the Arabic word for God, is incinerated.
“Such goes to show, that blasphemy is clearly conveyed in the video, since Katy Perry (who appears to be representing an opposition of God) engulfs the believer and the word God in flames,” writes Iqbal on the petition page, which is presently sitting at just under 65,000 signatures. He adds:
“This is the reason for lodging the petition so that people from different walks of life, different religions and from different parts of the world, agree that the video promotes blasphemy, using the name of God in an irrelevant and distasteful manner would be considered inappropriate by any religion.”
It appears Iqbal himself has been receiving scrutiny for the petition, issuing a response to those curious as to why he was watching the “sexed up” clip in the first place, writing, “I do watch music videos this particular one I didn’t watch it was brought to my attention and felt disgusted by it.”
“Even if I was a devout Muslim that shouldn’t be watching ‘sexed up videos’ this does not take away the fact that the name of the Lord was used in an inappropriate, manner what do you expect us to not watch it and turn a blind eye? Unlikely.” But “blasphemy” may not see the clip taken down.
As is stated in YouTube’s own terms of service, grounds for removal of content include copyright infringement and pornography, which means Perry’s video is safe. In addition, any content considered to be a personal viewpoint, including blasphemy or hate speech, is permissible.
Perry recently announced a tour of Australia set for November.
Watch: Katy Perry ft Juicy J – Dark Horse
