DJ David Guetta slammed for playing 'King Salman remix' in Riyadh

Enrique Iglesias, The Black Eyed Peas, OneRepublic and Arabic popstar Amr Diab were among the globally recognised artists performing at the festival,

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

17 December, 2018

David Guetta performed at a music festival as part of the Formula E event [Getty]

Activists from the Gulf region slammed David Guetta this week after videos emerged showing the superstar DJ remixing pro-regime songs during a concert in Saudi Arabia.

Social media users condemned the artist for remixing a song praising Saudi King Salman during a concert in Riyadh as part of the Formula E event.

Enrique Iglesias, The Black Eyed Peas, OneRepublic and Arabic popstar Amr Diab were among the globally recognised artists performing at the festival, which for the first time in the kingdom's history brought together both men and women at a concert.

"Disgusting that David Guetta is not only performing in Saudi, but playing songs praising the king - while leading human rights defenders are in prison, and we have reports that the women human rights defenders have been subjected to torture,"Bahraini rights activist Maryam al-Khawaja said on Twitter.

Twitter Post

The music festival comes amid global outrage and mounting pressure toward Saudi Arabia, which was triggered by the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate in October.

Last month, a long list of investors and international policymakers boycotted a Saudi conference, nicknamed "Davos in the desert", amid growing outrage over the Khashoggi murder.

Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser, corporate chiefs from JP Morgan, Ford and Uber, and media powerhouses like CNN and the Financial Times all scrapped plans to attend.

Since the murder of Khashoggi, there has also been an increase in international pressure to end the devastating war in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has battled Houthi rebels in a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people and driven the impoverished state to near-famine - though rights groups say the actual figure is five times higher.

Also last month, former British-Yemeni superstar boxer, Prince Naseem Hamed, took an unexpected political stance during Saudi Arabia's first professional boxing event.

"With our souls and our blood, we sacrifice for you Yemen," Prince Naseem said.

"Yemen is going through some hard times, please do not forget to pray for Yemen," he added, speaking in Arabic.

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