That’s the argument of one politician in her native Colombia who wants to ban the superstar’s latest music video for its “immoral and vulgar” content.The offending video is for Shakira’s new single “Can’t Remember To Forget You,” a racy production that features Rihanna.
Shakira does her trademark hip-shaking and gyrating in the video, but also shares scenes in bed with Rihanna and smoking cigars.
Bogota Councilman Marco Fidel Ramirez said the video should be banned from Colombian airwaves because the smoking and the touching in bed violate a law that prohibits broadcast material that damages the “moral integrity” of children.
“I found a video that evidently contains images that in my opinion are not useful for the emotional growth and development of youths,” Ramirez told CNN en Español on Wednesday.
The councilman wrote a letter to Shakira, appealing to her role as a mother and asking her to remove the video from the Internet and to consider retracting the song altogether.
“I feel it promotes immorality,” he told CNN en Español.
Ramirez took his campaign to social media, distributing a flier on Facebook and Twitter that warns that the video promotes smoking and lesbianism. (In his letter to the singer, Ramirez explains that he believes that a “normal” family is comprised of a man and a woman and children).
His comments were met with critics who accused him of censorship, but others supported his stance, saying the video goes too far.
“I think the message that Shakira is sending to the youth and children around the world is a message that sells a lifestyle and promotes a particular orientation, that in my opinion, does not reflect the views of most Colombians,” Ramirez said.
In Colombia, Shakira is more than a music star. She is an important advocate and philanthropist who has a foundation to help impoverished children in Colombia and has been a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.
Ramirez calls himself a fan of Shakira, and argues that precisely because of her talent and fame,she doesn’t need sex to sell her albums.
She has a social responsibility,Ramirez said,to not repeat stereotypes of women in music.
Asked if he would back the ban of dozens of other artists who depict sex, smoking or drinking in their music or videos, Ramirez said Shakira’s case is different because so many children look up to her.
