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Denmark: Politician requested “total boycott” of hip hop band
In a press release the right-wing politician Kenneth Kristensen, who is chairman of the youth branch of the Danish People's Party (in Danish: 'Dansk Folkeparti'), called for a “total boycott” of the Danish hip hop trio Outlandish
Kenneth Kristensen compared the music of Outlandish with music of the Neo-Nazi movement, and said in an interview with Nyhedsavisen’s René Fredensborg that “Outlandish are creating a problem because their views are transmitted to their fans.”
“No radio station or DJ with any self-respect can play Outlandish’s songs,” he stated while accusing two members of the band, Isam Bachiri and Waqas Quadrii, of “flirting with Islamic extremism” because they performed at an Islamic conference, held on 22-28 December 2006, which has previously had among its speakers controversial imams, clerics and shaykhs. The convention was entitled ‘Reviving the Islamic Spirit’ and was attended by 12,000 Muslims from across Canada and around the world.
In a short comment on their website, dated 13 January 2007, Outlandish stated that the allegations that Outlandish should be supporting hate or violence against jews and homesexuals are untrue, and that they don't see any reason for critisising their participation in a peaceful Islamic convention which main purpose is to create understanding and co-existance between young Muslims and non-Muslims.
The Danish newspaper Nyhedsavisen quoted the chairman of an association of Danish concert halls, Jesper Nordahl, as saying that he finds Kenneth Kristensen’s request to boycott Outlandish “idiotic”, and the chairman of the Danish DeeJay Organization, Morten Brønnum, told the newspaper that he cannot even take a request like that seriously.
The request for a boycott on Outlandish is presently discussed vigorously in several Danish debate forums on the web.
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