Sunday 22 December 2013

Mariah Carey manager: We're not sorry for Angola show

Mariah Carey's manager Jermaine Dupri - who arranged her controversial concert for Angola's dictator, Jose Eduardo dos Santos - defended the alleged $1 million payday in a phone call to Human Rights Foundation President Thor Halvorssen on Wednesday, saying it's not his problem that the country is run by a cold-blooded despot.

"I don't feel like we have done anything wrong," Dupri told the Post. "The president of the United States took pictures with this guy's daughter and congratulated this man on his many years of being in office. If he can rub shoulders with these people than why is Mariah Carey being accused of doing something wrong?"

When asked if Carey was remorseful for performing for another dictator after she apologized for her 2008 concert for Libyan Dictator Moammar Khadafy and promised "to take more responsibility" for her bookings, he spat back "Why should she be?" He claims that the concert sponsored by Dos Santos's daughter Isabel's mobile company Unitel and the Red Cross Gala that was attended by the dictator and his wife Ana Paula was proposed to them by an intermediary for the Red Cross.

He admitted that he never researched the country, which is headed by the second longest serving dictator currently in office - who has ordered the execution of many politicians, journalists and activists who defy his rule or the organization they were performing for.

"Why don't you attack them?" he said, suggesting that the Human Rights Foundation that blasted Carey this week for accepting cash to perform for the dictator should instead go after the Red Cross. The singer songwriter and producer claims that Carey didn't even know that dos Santos was in the room when she cooed "I am honored to share this show with the president of Angola."

When asked why Carey went back on her word after promising not to perform for dictators after the Khadafy snafu, Dupri countered "I wasn't around when that happened, and I can't speak on that situation." Dupri and HRF president Thor Halvorssen had an explosive phone conversation on Wednesday where Carey's manager allegedly told him that the diva has "no interest" in human rights matters.

"Dupri said 'She's not involved in human rights matters'," Halvorssen told the Post. "He said 'She is not sorry'," he said. Dupri denied that he made those comments to Halvorssen adding, "That guys trying to twist my words and make it seem like I don't give a f**k about nothing. I didn't say anything about that."

Dupri received the Bill of Rights Award from the American Civil Liberties Union in 2008. "I lend my voice. People ask me to do things (to help). I lend my voice, thoughts and how I feel," he said at the time. Carey has promoted herself as a human rights advocate and has appeared at events for organizations like the UNICEF.

Dupri posted a short video on Facebook of him and Carey leaving the African on a private plane. He also posted photos of the impoverished conditions in Angola. "It's quite clear he could care less," Halvorssen told the Post. "Dupri exemplifies the hypocrisy, the greed, and the willful ignorance of managers and performers who pose for photos at human rights events one day and accept copious amounts of blood diamond money on the next day."

(New York Post)



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