Katy Perry Allah Controversy: Singer Removes 'Distasteful' Islam Reference From 'Dark Horse' Video
Katy Perry made changes to the music video for "Dark Horse" after an online campaign accused her of blasphemy this week.
The pop singer released the official music video one week ago, and a petition appeared on change.org shortly thereafter urging YouTube to remove the "highly controversial" video from their website. Shazad Iqbal posted the petition from Bradford, U.K., suggesting that "Dark Horse" was blasphemous.
"At 01:15 into the video Dark Horse; a man is shown being burned, whilst wearing a pendant (also burned) forming the word 'Allah,' which is Arabic for God," Iqbal explained on change.org.
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While Perry has not commented on the petition, the scene involving "Allah" has since been removed from the "Dark Horse" video. However, in the original video, Perry, who plays an Egyptian queen, used magic to turn the actor wearing the Muslim insignia to dust.
"Such goes to show, that blasphemy is clearly conveyed in the video, since Katy Perry (who appears to be representing an opposition to God) engulfs the believer and the word God in flames," Iqbal wrote. "This is the reason for lodging the petition so that people from different walks of life, different religions and from different parts of the world, agree that the video promotes blasphemy, using the name of God in an irrelevant and distasteful manner would be considered inappropriate by any religion."
Following Perry's edit to "Dark Horse," Iqbal posted a thank you to the over 65,000 who signed the petition in just four days.
"Guys I'm thrilled to let you all know the name Allah has been removed from the 'Dark Horse' video," he wrote on change.org. "We couldn't have done it without everyone's support so I thank each and every one of you deeply, our voices have been heard! God bless you all."
Despite the controversial music video, Perry's "Dark Horse" remains among the top of music charts today. Watch the music video, which features Juicy J, here. (WARNING: Explicit lyrics and graphic content).
