Mariah
Carey belted out her hit songs for Angolan despot José Eduardo dos
Santos and his family last weekend for more than $1 million – even
though she apologized in 2008 for performing for Moammar Khadafy’s
family, a human-rights watchdog says.
A smiling Carey posed for a picture with the Southern African dictator, his daughter and his wife (in the picture).
“I am happy to be here in this room, and I am honored to share this show with the president of Angola,”
the pop singer said at the gala, according to the Human Rights
Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on protecting and promoting
human-rights globally.
The foundation blasted her for taking payment from a “tyrant.”
“Mariah Carey can’t seem to get enough dictator cash,” the group’s president, Thor Halvorssen, said.
“Just
five years ago, she performed for the family of Libyan dictator Moammar
Khadafy. Now she goes from private performances to public displays of
support and credibility for one of Africa’s chief human-rights violators
and most corrupt tyrants.”
The
diva made two performances in the country. She appeared at a public
show at Luanda’s Coqueiros Stadium, which was sponsored by Unitel, a
cellphone company controlled by dos Santos’ daughter, Isabel.
Carey also cranked out hits for two hours at a gala fund-raiser for the Angola Red Cross, which Isabel heads.
In addition to Isabel, the gala was attended by José Eduardo dos Santos and his wife, Ana Paula.
“It
is the sad spectacle of an international artist purchased by a ruthless
police state to entertain and whitewash the father-daughter kleptocracy
that has amassed billions in ill-gotten wealth while the majority of
Angola lives on less than $2 a day,” Halvorssen said.
It would be recalled that Mariah performed in Lagos last Saturday for the first time ever, before departing to Angola.
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