Wednesday 29 June 2016

Lady Gaga Is Now Banned In China

China is known for having a heavily censored internet, with a system dubbed the Great Firewall of China blocking local access to sites like Facebook and Twitter. Now, it looks like that same Firewall will also block access to any mention of musician Lady Gaga.

Chinese officials soured on the singer after she had a meeting with the Dalai Lama that was broadcast via Facebook Live, reports Hong Kong's Apple Daily. The singer and spiritual leader appeared on stage together at the United States Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The People's Republic has bad blood with the Dalai Lama dating back to 1959, when he fled Tibet for India during the Tibetan Uprising. In 2011, a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry described him as "a political exile who has been carrying out separatist activities for a long time."

His meeting with Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, took place on Monday, and has been viewed over 3 million times. The pair discuss compassion, meditation and more -- you can see the 19-minute video in full here.

Websites in China have been ordered to stop uploading or distributing her songs, reports the publication, and government-run news outlets were ordered to criticise the meeting and speak ill of the Dalai Lama.

Gaga joins Oasis, Miley Cyrus, Jay-Z, Bob Dylan and Bjork as popular musicians who have been banned from performing in the country. Both Oasis and Bjork's banning are said to be due to their campaigning for Tibetan independence.

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