It turned out one of the mobile phone operators wanted to hold a huge concert for sir Elton on the 15th of May in Egypt for the first time , of course this mobile phone operator’s name has not been declared yet but it is most probably Vodafone ; anyhow according to the law any foreign singer in Egypt must have the permission of the Musicians union to perform in Egypt and so when this company applied for that permission , the union rejected their application because they can’t accept that a proud openly gay singer to sing in Egypt.
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| John , Furnish and Camilla ElFayed |
Already I do not know if this whole thing was true or not because last time I saw an image for sir Elton he seemed that he has no health to perform a whole gig despite the fact after Mubarak’s speech yesterday everything is possible !! Not to mention I do not think that Vodafone or Mobinil is idiot enough to sponsor a concert for an openly gay singer in the size of Elton Jones in Egypt , yes he held concerts in Dubai and Beirut but Egypt is no Dubai or Beirut by all measures. Already if this concert were held , any sponsor company would have a PR damage that could force it to leave the market.
The west is condemning the retarded homophobic Egyptians with our history record of homophobia. In Egypt most people supported the decision of El-Wassimy , of course his old rival in the elections attacked his decision still his voice was not heard. Most of the media in Egypt did not give to the news big attention , after all the whole country is suffering and the last thing we need a debate about whether Elton Jones should sing in Cairo or not. Dostor newspaper was bold enough to attack the decision. Dostor columnists Ehab Turky and Omar Taher believed that his art and talent were more important than his personal life , of course Taher reminded us with our regime double standard when Egypt hosted Sarkozy in Luxor with his girlfriend Carla before tying the knot. “He forgot having gay ministers in the cabinet too”
I like some of sir Elton John’s music , when I was a kid the Lion King soundtrack was 24/7 in my Walkman and I wish that Aida finds her away to Egypt , still I believe his statements in Parade have offended many people around the world whether Muslims or Christians alike. It is not about religious conservatism with my all due respect , the same reaction would have happened even in the cosmopolitan 1940s Egypt but some like to forget. The Egyptian society looked to the Beatles in a negative way considering them sissy , in fact the word “Beatle” had become in our slang diction for sissy till the 1980s.
Despite being not the first gay singer to perform in Egypt still most of the previous gay singers who came to Egypt were and are still in closet for the record whether as Arabs or Westerners or even Egyptians ; examples are many like Duncan James from Blue or Ricky Martin. “I will not give examples from Egypt or Arab world”
Egypt can’t afford Elton by all measures , it is not about his big mouth nor his homosexuality but it is about his concert price !! Let’s be realistic here Sir John will not sing for the Egyptian people but rather a very small segment of people who most of them did not listen or enjoy the music of Jones but would just go in order to show off. Already I can’t imagine if this concert to be held how much its ticket would cost !!?? I read from couple of days ago that Julio Iglesias’ coming concert1 non VIP ticket in Egypt will be LE 1000 , this is Julio not SIR ELTON JOHN who is coming to EGYPT for the first time for God sake !!
People are protesting to raise the $7 minimum wage limit in Egypt and some people are mad because Sir Elton will not enchant us in the Nile valley , it seems that we got two Egypts indeed !! Already I do not get why those concert organizers find too attractive to get starts like Beyonce and Shakira and yet find it hard to get Fairoz to sing once again in Egypt !!??
Notes
1. Julio’s concert will be on the 26th of May at the light and sound theatre at the pyramid plateau
By the way regarding the photo , Sir Elton did not know that Mohamed ElFayed was the first one to say on Egyptian channel "Half of the MPs in the British Parliament are fagots" forcing Hala Sarhan to be shocked.