Saudi concert event causing lots of backlash for stars

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – DECEMBER 19: (L-R) Ryan Phillippe, Armie Hammer and Mohammed Al Turki attend the MDL Beast Festival on December 19, 2019 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Daniele Venturelli/Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images )

I don’t get especially political on here, but I think it’s disgusting how so may celebs and influencers attended this propaganda concert in Saudi Arabia called MDL Beast.

The country that kills journalists investigating them, kills LGBTQ and it’s supporters and essentially owns it’s women like property, is trying to change it’s world image without actually changing its ways.  And this concert was a perfect tool for that.

In attendance actors Armie Hammer and Ryan Phillippe, “Gossip Girl” actor Ed Westwick, Alessandra Ambrosio, Winnie Harlow, and Sofia Richie with her boyfriend Scott Disick.  And a swath of others that were reportedly paid to attend the festival.

Watch dog IG account diet Prada wrote: What’s worse than an all white @revolve influencer trip? Cashing big fat checks in exchange for #content creation (aka propaganda) to rehabilitate the image of Saudi Arabia, a country said to be causing “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”, according to the United Nations. According to anonymous sources, six-figure sums were offered for attendance and geo-tagged posts.

 

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What’s worse than an all white @revolve influencer trip? Cashing big fat checks in exchange for #content creation (aka propaganda) to rehabilitate the image of Saudi Arabia, a country said to be causing “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”, according to the United Nations. According to anonymous sources, six-figure sums were offered for attendance and geo-tagged posts. ????????? Following the government’s pre-meditated murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi in October 2018 , the arrest of women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul in May 2018, the outing of a gay Saudi journalist and his partner who began receiving death threats from their families (homosexuality is a crime in Saudi Arabia and punishable by death), and countless other human rights abuses, a bevy of supermodels, influencers, celebrities, and musicians convened in Riyadh for the inaugural @mdlbeast . According to @hypebeast , the electronic music festival is “one of the most significant musical events the region has ever seen”. ????????? Saudi Arabia has been spending billions to change its image in the west, but this is sure to be the most expensive campaign yet. In a series of Instagram stories posted by transgender model @teddy_quinlivan , it was revealed that fellow model @emrata had turned down the trip, evidently aware of the country’s human rights crisis. “It is very important to me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community, freedom of expression and the right to a free press. I hope coming forward on this brings more attention to the injustices happening there”, said Ratajkowski in a statement to Diet Prada. ????????? Unfortunately, not all shared the same sentiments. There are simply too many attendees to name. Dieters, feel free to tag any attendees you know of… just in case they haven’t been reading the news. • #propoganda #jamalkashoggi #humanrights #humanrightsabuse #lgbtq #lgbtqrights #freespeech #journalism #independent #womensrights #mdlbeast #edm #electronicmusic #supermodel #influencer #content #riyadh #emrata #emilyratajkowski #teddyquinlivan #model #celebrity #dj #electronicmusic #musicfestival #wtf #smh #government #corruption #dietprada

A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada) on Dec 21, 2019 at 2:04pm PST