Morocco’s main Islamist opposition party has called for gay singer Elton John to be banned from performing at a festival in Rabat later this month, a party leader said Friday.
"We categorically reject the appearance of this singer because there is a risk of encouraging homosexuality in Morocco," the head of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) parliamentary group, Mustapha Ramid, told AFP.
"The problem is not with the singer himself but the image he has in society," another leading party member, Lahcen Daoudi, added.
"Moroccan society has a negative perception of this singer and we must take it into consideration."
The PJD on Thursday submitted a request to parliament to ban Elton John from performing in the Mawazine music festival to be staged in the Moroccan capital from May 21 to 29.
Other artists booked to appear include Julio Iglesias, B.B. King and Carlos Santana.
Protests also greeted Elton John’s performance last month at an open air concert at the ancient Mayan pyramids of Chichen Itza in southeastern Mexico.
The 90-minute concert went ahead amidst the majestic pyramids despite indigenous leaders’ complaints and an accident Thursday that saw the stage collapse, injuring three workers.
Local Mayan leaders complained the concert was irreverent and out of place, and said the collapse of the stage the day before, injuring three workers, was caused by spirits upset because their gods’ permission for the concert was lacking.
During his stay in Mexico John was protected by a police and military operation with hundreds of officers who also set up roadblocks at the entrances to the archeological site.
In February John stirred controversy in a US magazine interview when he claimed that Jesus Christ was gay.
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, the largest US Catholic rights group, condemned the comments, adding, "But what else would we expect from a man who previously said, ‘From my point of view, I would ban religion completely’?"
