Lady Gaga In Hot Water Over Bangkok Concert

[khunken]

The so-called Ministry of Culture should be re-named as the Ministry of Silly Talks.

[spiritrace]

She was hired to do a concert because she IS controversial. That's what she is all about. They got what they wanted.

[mal129]

To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."

David

Very well said.

[giddyup]

The fact that she is deprived of hundred of thousand dollars in royalties with all her albums pirated here doesn't seem to worry the Culture minister. The hypocricy and double standards in this country are sickening.

[carra]

someone asked me once in a conversation 'what do you know about thai culture'?

I replied, 'corruption, prostitution, immaturity, lack of common sense, no accountability'

Not exactly the answer they wanted but it was good for them to see how other nationalities see it, of course I went on to tell them the good things about thai culture but it is about time this ministry realised exactly how stupid they look when they do things like this.

[reenatinnakor]

Seriously? Really? No joke?

[americaninbangkok]

Amazing how Thai nationals can never do anything viewed as "inappropriate and hurt Thai people's sentiment".

Yep... it's always the farang's fault.

That's why we're double charged for everything!

After all, it was farangs that danced topless on songkran, right?

[Honkytowner]

But this is perfectly acceptable.

[cardholder]

The fact that she is deprived of hundred of thousand dollars in royalties with all her albums pirated here doesn't seem to worry the Culture minister. The hypocricy and double standards in this country are sickening.

The hypocrisy and double standards in this country are sickening. endemic and we need to understand/accept that they are part of every day life.

[Aey]

I was at the concert and to be honest, I love Lady Gaga even more. She didn't try to make fun by wearing the headdress. It was from one of her fans who dressed up in the full Thai traditional costume. This fan took of her headdress and tried to hand it to Lady Gaga during concert. Lady Gaga was even very careful with it. We were laughing because she tried so hard to wear it correctly. She asked the audience how to wear because she said she wanted to wear it correctly as she respects Thai culture very much.

This news showed how flaky our minister people are. They didn't even look at the whole thing.... So sad these people are front runners of Thailand....

[Pacificperson]

Anything this woman does is a non-event for me. Who should care about her attention seeking?

[ricardofel]

Have they got nothing better to do in the Culture Ministry? What about kiddie porn being sold on the streets of Bangkok? The sex industry in Thailand, the fake industry or The environment....get a life culture ministers and all those who work there.

[SICHONSTEVE]

'When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

I am going to have to go against the flow here. All the Thai's want is respect to be shown against their monarchy, buddhist religion and cultural/national issues. They do go too far and are unnecessarily paranoid about some things but there is nothing wrong about being a proud patriotic nation!!!

[jackinbkk]

Hope they don't find out what goes on in the Sois too

[americaninbangkok]

Another pathetic statement from the culture ministry, how about they do something about her pirated albums or is that just part of the culture?

I give you the current Thai Minister of Culture... Sukumol Kunplome.

This not a joke. This is the official photo of her on the Thai website: http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/newscabinet.html

This woman should not throw stones? I think she lives in a pretty big glass house!

[Jingthing]

...

They do go too far and are unnecessarily paranoid about some things but there is nothing wrong about being a proud patriotic nation!!!

Sometimes there is something wrong when it goes too far and people get hurt.

[steveyinasia]

And all the lady boys doing exactly the same thing does not hurt the Thai image....another case of "Dont do as I do, do as I say". Another quality piece of news from the always "head in the sand" government officials

[ladygaga]

They really have lots of free time and nohing to do, so they picked Lady Gaga. The minister is going to make people hate her ministry more.

[majhiggins]

'When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

I am going to have to go against the flow here. All the Thai's want is respect to be shown against their monarchy, buddhist religion and cultural/national issues. They do go too far and are unnecessarily paranoid about some things but there is nothing wrong about being a proud patriotic nation!!!

There IS something wrong with being such a patriotic nation that you won't even entertain the possibility that you may have serious issues that should be brought to light and discussed. Know what they say about sunshine being the best disinfectant. Instead it's mock indignation at imaginary slurs and turning a blind eye to the real problems. Then again, in the west the three monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil, are invoked to make a negative statement about people. The last thing in the world you want to be accused of is being like the three monkeys because they symbolize ignoring problems or burying them. In the far east they are referred to as the "three wise monkeys" and are considered to be examples of virtuous behavior.

[TackyToo]

To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."

David

The only joke I see here is (once again) Thailand's culture ministry

[americaninbangkok]

Let's de-construct this silly article for a minute, shall we?

Thailand's culture ministry has filed a complaint to police against Lady Gaga for misuse of the Thai flag during her show last month.

Is this really a hot-button issue for Thailand... if it took a month to address an incident that occurred in front of 75,000 witnesses? No wonder it's taken so long to get any resolution on the violence from May 2010. There were only a few thousand people at any given location then... simply not enough eyes on the ball, here.

We are not asking police to prosecute her but it's our normal procedure to file complaints to concerned agencies when we receive them," a senior ministry official, who declined to be named, said by telephone.

Ummm... to whom did they file the complaint? Thai Visa readers? Martians? Lady Gaga fans? You don't just complain to the air. Well you can, I suppose... but a Ministry that does looks kind of silly! And the official declined to be named. God forbid the name of the person who came up with this complaint gets ridiculed by name.

The ministry noted that the Thai national flag consisted of three colours -- red for the nation, blue for the revered monarchy and white for religion.

The ministry was able to know all three colors of the Thai flag? Best example of competence I've seen from this cabinet to date!

[carra]

'When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

I am going to have to go against the flow here. All the Thai's want is respect to be shown against their monarchy, buddhist religion and cultural/national issues. They do go too far and are unnecessarily paranoid about some things but there is nothing wrong about being a proud patriotic nation!!!

There IS something wrong with being such a patriotic nation that you won't even entertain the possibility that you may have serious issues that should be brought to light and discussed. Know what they say about sunshine being the best disinfectant. Instead it's mock indignation at imaginary slurs and turning a blind eye to the real problems. Then again, in the west the three monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil, are invoked to make a negative statement about people. The last thing in the world you want to be accused of is being like the three monkeys because they symbolize ignoring problems or burying them. In the far east they are referred to as the "three wise monkeys" and are considered to be examples of virtuous behavior.

It would be hard to find three wise monkeys in Thailand, let alone 3 wise people haha, only joking, generalizing too much for effect.

[LomSak27]

well if you can't do anything substantive in goverment, or improve relations with say KSA

Why not go after Gaga, maybe it will distract a bit ...

[carra]

Let's de-construct this silly article for a minute, shall we?

Thailand's culture ministry has filed a complaint to police against Lady Gaga for misuse of the Thai flag during her show last month.

Is this really a hot-button issue for Thailand... if it took a month to address an incident that occurred in front of 75,000 witnesses? No wonder it's taken so long to get any resolution on the violence from May 2010. There were only a few thousand people at any given location then... simply not enough eyes on the ball, here.

We are not asking police to prosecute her but it's our normal procedure to file complaints to concerned agencies when we receive them," a senior ministry official, who declined to be named, said by telephone.

Ummm... to whom did they file the complaint? Thai Visa readers? Martians? Lady Gaga fans? You don't just complain to the air. Well you can, I suppose... but a Ministry that does looks kind of silly! And the official declined to be named. God forbid the name of the person who came up with this complaint gets ridiculed by name.

The ministry noted that the Thai national flag consisted of three colours -- red for the nation, blue for the revered monarchy and white for religion.

The ministry was able to know all three colors of the Thai flag? Best example of competence I've seen from this cabinet to date!

I can answer these for you:

Thailand's culture ministry has filed a complaint to police against Lady Gaga for misuse of the Thai flag during her show last month. They have only just managed to get a copy of the pirated dvd from the concert.

We are not asking police to prosecute her but it's our normal procedure to file complaints to concerned agencies when we receive them," a senior ministry official, who declined to be named, said by telephone. we asked the police to prosecute but they asked for too much tea money to do it.

The ministry noted that the Thai national flag consisted of three colours -- red for the nation, blue for the revered monarchy and white for religion. My flag contains these 3 colours also but i constantly see it on flip flops, on tshirts and on the arse of peoples jeans,

[Pseudolus]

I would hope that this ensures that no international artist ever comes to Thailand now. Ever again. ..

The fake rolex comment offended them because she omitted to mention fake LV, Gucci, mont blanc, ..... in fact fake everything including smile and manners. After all, same said people most likely make some of their money from its trade as well.

Personally, I think she is rubbish; a marketing ploy and nothing more. However, if the flag incident caused so much offence perhaps the same horrified people will pop into any of the streets of under aged hookers and arrest them for wearing the Thai Flag bikinis / shirts / you name it that I guess the sport. Also, the US embassy should file charges against people wearing their flag as well.

[dude007]

Immature Ministry... immature minister...

Edited June 15, 2012 by dude007

[Chads]

I've only got one reply. Lady Gaga without makeup: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jc74boCC3NA/T1P1F3r_f_I/AAAAAAAACiI/yVY0nRTMc5s/s1600/lady-gaga-without-make-up.jpg

[thaicbr]

'When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

I am going to have to go against the flow here. All the Thai's want is respect to be shown against their monarchy, buddhist religion and cultural/national issues. They do go too far and are unnecessarily paranoid about some things but there is nothing wrong about being a proud patriotic nation!!!

There is nothing wrong in her carrying the Thai flag as long as she did nothing to deface it or degenerate it. Someone posted that she did not. So no problem.

As for the paranoid proud patriotic nation. Yes there is. That's how wars are started.

Sent from my GT-P1010 using Thaivisa Connect App

[impulse]

I hope she's paying someone for all this publicity.

[culicine]

The concert was two weeks ago and she's still getting free publicity!!

Why is this issue arising now? It seems as if one concert goer mentioned it in passing to the wrong person! It it was really all that offensive surely the outrage would have been immediate; or is it that Thais don't care all that much about their flag and country? Judging by the way that some sing / don't sing their anthem, it could be the latter.