US singer Clarkson regrets tobacco 'mishap'
Saturday, 24 April 2010
JAKARTA, Apr 23 (AFP): US singer Kelly Clarkson said Thursday she was not aware a tobacco company was sponsoring her concert in Indonesia and refused to cancel the show despite appeals from anti-smoking groups.
In a statement on her blog headlined "Jakarta mishap", the former "American Idol" winner said she was being "used as some kind of political pawn" and rejected criticism she was promoting smoking to her young fans.
"So... my morning began with finding out that I am all over billboards, TV ads and other media formats alongside a tobacco company who unbeknownst to me is sponsoring my Jakarta date on my current tour," she wrote.
"I was not made aware of this and am in no way an advocate or an ambassador for youth smoking. I'm not even a smoker, nor have I ever been."
She said her "only option" was to cancel the show, but she could not justify "penalising my fans for someone else's oversight".
"This is a lose-lose situation for me and I am not happy about it but the damage has been done and I refuse to cancel on my fans," she said.
In a statement on her blog headlined "Jakarta mishap", the former "American Idol" winner said she was being "used as some kind of political pawn" and rejected criticism she was promoting smoking to her young fans.
"So... my morning began with finding out that I am all over billboards, TV ads and other media formats alongside a tobacco company who unbeknownst to me is sponsoring my Jakarta date on my current tour," she wrote.
"I was not made aware of this and am in no way an advocate or an ambassador for youth smoking. I'm not even a smoker, nor have I ever been."
She said her "only option" was to cancel the show, but she could not justify "penalising my fans for someone else's oversight".
"This is a lose-lose situation for me and I am not happy about it but the damage has been done and I refuse to cancel on my fans," she said.