Is China Mad at Jon Bon Jovi?

Bon Jovi's first-ever Chinese shows mysteriously canceled
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 9, 2015 7:29 AM CDT
Is China Mad at Jon Bon Jovi?
Bon Jovi's first-ever Chinese shows mysteriously cancelled.    (Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP, File)

It seems the Dalai Lama has indirectly led to the disappointment of Chinese concertgoers once again. One week before Bon Jovi was to play a three-city tour of China—the band's first-ever shows in the country—two of the shows were mysteriously canceled, the Washington Post reports. This despite Jon Bon Jovi having already recorded a love song in Mandarin for the occasion. Concert promoter AEG Live Asia cited "unforeseen circumstances," but reports are putting the blame on China's Ministry of Culture, which pulled Bon Jovi's permits after seeing a video of the band performing in front of images of the Dalai Lama in 2010 or 2011, reports the Financial Times.

However, a 2009 Bon Jovi music video featuring images from the Tiananmen Square protest could also have been problematic, per the Post. Concert organizers are trying to get the decision reversed, but that's unlikely, notes the Times. "No words I've learned could express how crushed I am," one disappointed Chinese Bon Jovi fan posted on social media, per the Post. Chinese Maroon 5 fans know the feeling: Adam Levine and Co. also lost their permits this summer, with a band member's tweet about attending the Dalai Lama's birthday party in California the likely culprit. Taylor Swift likewise ran into trouble for planning to sell merch featuring her initials and 1989 album title; Tiananmen Square took place in 1989, notes the Post. (More Bon Jovi stories.)

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