Musicians should just give up with China, selling his soul to the devil is not worth it! Maroon 5 were supposed to perform in Beijing and Shanghai in September as part of their Asian leg tour but the shows were canceled, according to the Guardian. Although no official explanation was given, online speculations have connected a tweet sent by keyboardist Jesse Carmichael early this month to the cancellation. Despite the harmlessness of his tweet (‘sang happy birthday to his holiness’) it has become a big deal for Chinese authorities.He effectively wished a happy 80th birthday to China’s enemy, the Dalai Lama, as he was attending a party celebrating the Buddhist leader’s birthday in the US. And since this tweet and its equivalent on Instagram were deleted since, the connection with the cancelation seems true.
Another proof that speculations may be well founded is what the Beijing edition of Time Out just reported: ‘We hear musings about Maroon 5 being prevented from performing by our political friends up above. Meeting the Dalai Lama is all an artist needs to get a big X on their visa application.’
Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website, and one of the most popular sites in China (What? Chinese people don’t use facebook or Twitter?) has been invaded by messages about the banning.
Beijing has already banned politicians who had met the Dalai Lama, but a pop band? How stupid is that? It’s not a premiere, Oasis had to cancel shows in China too when Noel Gallagher performed at a Free Tibet concert in New York a few years ago, the same thing happened to Linkin Park, and I am sure there are many other examples.
China has the worst government ever, when you feel that a band as irrelevant and apolitical as Maroon 5 is the enemy, you truly expose your biggest weakness and paranoia.