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.Unlike in Egypt, where the musicians union were the ones who decided to ban him, these Moroccan Islamists were not successful:
"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."
[Elton John will perform in] Morocco this month despite calls from the country's main Islamic party for the gay star to be banned, organizers said Monday.I heard that the Islamists tried to compromise with the singer, asking him to change the lyrics to "Saturday Night's Alright for Jihad."
Artistic director Aziz Daki told AFP that cancelling the concert on the grounds of John's homosexuality would "undermine the respect of privacy" and "breach certain values that the international Mawazine festival is based on."
They already liked "Rocket Man."