An online petition demands that YouTube removes the latest music video by Katy Perry. The signatories believe her zapping a man wearing a pendant with the word ‘Allah’ written in Arabic is blasphemous.
The video for the song Dark Horse, which Perry sings with Juicy J, was posted on YouTube last week. It features a cartoonish version of ancient Egypt, with Perry regally seating at a monumental throne receiving tribute from men. The gifts apparently offend queen Perry, as she zaps the unlucky visitors with lightning, turning them into sand one by one. The episode with the Allah pendant can be seen at 1:15 of the video.
The English-language petition, which was launched by Shazad Iqbal from Bradford, UK, has gathered more than 34,000 signatures in the first day. While so far signatories mostly come from Britain, some are showing their support from Muslim-majority countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Qatar.
The petition hopes to win major support to show “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.”
Dark Horse is Perry’s third single off her new album ‘Prism’. It already has almost 30 million views on YouTube.