KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — A two-woman Italian group that was supposed to perform at the W Hotel tomorrow night has cancelled its show, ostensibly after local authorities discovered their lesbian sexual orientation.
The show organiser and the hotel have both confirmed that Gioli & Assia will no longer be performing and will be replaced by two other DJs Gracie and Dora, but did not give the reason for the change.
“Gioli & Assia won’t be able to perform for WET Sessions at WET Deck due to unforeseen circumstances. However, the show goes on! DJs Gracie and Dora will take centre stage.
“We hope you will still party with us as we will be waiving off all door charges for our WET Sessions. We will also be reaching out to those who made reservations for 31/08,” the organiser posted on its Facebook page, which was also carried by W Hotel KL.
In an earlier Facebook post, the younger of the Italian duo Gioli wrote that they cancelled the show after contact from the Central Agencies Committee for Applications for Filming and Performances by Foreign Artistes (Puspal).
“We have to sadly announce that our show at W Hotel in Kuala Lumpur has been cancelled due to our LGBT orientation.
“The government agency which regulates and approves artist performance permit usually do a background check for all artists that performs in Malaysia prior to show. In their research, hey have concluded that Gioli & Assia is of LGBT orientation and are seen to be promoting LGBT therefore not fit to perform in Malaysia as this could cause a threat to national security.
“Sad that this can still happen in 2019, Sad that love is still a cause of discrimination. Sad,” she wrote.
Malay Mail has contacted the organiser and Puspal for clarity.
The post is no longer available for public viewing but has been screencaptured by some internet users.
It’s offensive. Malaysian government agencies describe sexuality as a threat to national security. Discriminates against queer artists performing here.
— Lainie Yeoh ✊🏻🌈 (@lainie) August 29, 2019
Oppressing LGBT people is the real threat to Malaysia. Not us. pic.twitter.com/R573gutwj4
The show cancellation is the second incident affecting Malaysia’s performing arts scene after Puspal stepped in.
Earlier this week, the organisers of Indian superstar singer SP Balasubrahmanyam’s concert at the Plenary Hall in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre said it was told to shift up the time of the SPB’s Live In Concert Illaya Nila from 7pm to 3pm tomorrow.
The reason given was supposedly because the concert clashes with the Islamic Maal Hijrah celebrations, which starts from sunset on August 31 until the sunset on September 1.
