Singer Rihanna recently posted her support for the freedom of Palestine on Twitter, which was retweeted a whopping 70,000 times. But she took down the post, which read, “#FreePalestine,” after being subjected to criticism over her seeming tilt towards the crisis-ridden region, reported IANS.
A close friend of the singer clarified that she never meant to post the tweet in the first place. “She deleted it because it was never meant to be tweeted. She didn’t even realise it was a tweet until she started hearing from her fans,” said the source. “She is a person who is pro-peace and doesn’t want innocent people dying.”
Hours after taking down the original tweet, Rihanna wrote a politically correct yet potent message, “Let’s pray for peace and a swift end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! Is there any hope,” The Independent reported.
Although this post wasn’t free from criticism, the 26 year old openly took charge and tweeted, “I want to own up to and explain that earlier today, I sent out two tweets about saying prayers for the people in Palestine and Israel and after hearing from my followers, I decided to take down the tweets because I realised that some people were offended and hurt by what I said and for that, I apologise.”
According to contactmusic.com, the Grammy-winning singer isn’t the only high-profile name to have stirred up controversy. NBA star Dwight Howard also tweeted the same message after a follower asked him to help spread awareness about the atrocities. Dwight also took down the post after facing criticism from his followers.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2014.
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