The band gets banned from performing in the country and subsequently cancels the gigs scheduled for September after Jesse Carmichael tweeted happy birthday to Dalai Lama.
- Jul 20, 2015
AceShowbiz - Two of Maroon 5's upcoming concerts in China have reportedly been canceled. According to multiple sources, the group was forced to pull out of the gigs after they were banned from performing in the country due to a member's tweet about Dalai Lama.
Adam Levine and Co. were scheduled to perform in Beijing and Shanghai in September as part of their Asian tour. After Live Nation announced the cancellations without clear reasons, reports emerged that keyboardist Jesse Carmichael infuriated Chinese officials and anti-Tibet activists with an 80th birthday tweet he posted and later removed earlier this month. "We hear musings about Maroon 5 being prevented from performing by our political friends up above," read a Time Out Beijing article.
According to the BBC, Carmichael's now-deleted tweet read, "Happy Birthday America (and The Dalai Lama too) sang happy birthday to his holiness today." The musician reportedly also attended a celebration of the Tibetan spiritual leader's birthday in the Los Angeles area on July 4.
Maroon 5 isn't the first act to have been banned from performing in China due to connections with the Dalai Lama, who was exiled in 1959 after a failed uprising against Beijing's rule. Linkin Park, Oasis, Bjork and James Blake are among previous acts to be restricted from touring in China.
