Lady Gaga’s music has reportedly been banned in China following her meeting with the Dalai Lama.
The singer met with His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, at the US Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis over the weekend for a talk called ‘The Global Significance of Building Compassionate Cities: Kindness Makes it Happen’ but the meeting is said to have angered officials in China.
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily reported that the propaganda department of China’s Communist party has now issued "an important instruction" banning her music in the country.
Although China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei refused to comment on the claims, he said: "The purpose of [the Dalai Lama’s] visits and activities in other countries is just to promote his proposal for Tibetan independence. We hope that people from the international community can be fully aware of his true colours and nature."
Gaga shared a picture of herself and the Dalai Lama on her social media pages after the meeting and wrote: "Thank you for this special day. Science tells us kindness improves health, let’s take care of the body of our nation."
She conducted an interview with him, based on questions chosen from social media, with the entire chat streamed on Facebook Live.
During the talk, Gaga also spoke about the need to combat evil in the world with kindness and by educating and helping young people.
She said: "As we’re busy trying to figure out which group is causing the problem, evil is winning…we have to change the perspective.
"We need to educate them. You have the power to be kind to them."
And the Dalai Lama said: "We are a social animal, so individuals’ future depends entirely on the community. Once a tragic situation happens, don’t avoid – but look at it more deeply and widely. Many positive, happy things are there if you look from a wider perspective. If you look real closely, it appears unbearable. But if you look widely you see other positive things there."