Jennifer Lopez was forced to apologize after a concert in Turkmenistan on Satruday night because she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to the repressive dictator of the country’s brutal oppressive regime.
Lopez reportedly changed into a traditional Turkmen outfit during her show and personally serenaded Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow – whose government is accused of arbitrarily arresting and torturing political dissidents.
Human Rights Watch ranks Turkmenistan as ‘among the most repressive in the world.’ The human rights group says the former Soviet republic imposes ‘draconian restrictions on freedom of expression and association.’
The group also reports that ‘President Berdymukhamedov, his relatives, and associates enjoy unlimited power and total control over all aspects of public life.’
The concert was sponsored by China National Petroleum Corp – a major investor in Turmenistan’s booming gas industry – was meant to celebrate Berdimuhamedo’s 56th birthday.
Lopez released a statement after the concert apologizing for signing for the president and saying she never would have attended to concert if she had known the country’s human rights record.
According to the statement, the birthday song was a last-minute request made by the company to Lopez and she ‘graciously obliged.’

The concert took place in at a $2billion resort and yacht club on the Caspian Sea that Berdimuhamedow had opened just the day before.
The glitzy performance for a rarity to the Muslim-majority country of five million people. In attendance were government ministers, the heads of state-owned companies and foreign dignitaries.