Joss Stone was deported from Iran. She has been saying, “the Iranian authorities did not believe she would not try to play a public show in the country.” She may have been told so, and not being familiar with the settings, she believed it too. I assure you, no one in Iran, not the authorities and not the people believe that to be the case.
Regardless of her intentions, it was not even a remote possibility. Organizing a concert is closely watched by several government agencies, including the ministry of truth, and even approved (male) performers with a license for a show and verified groupies and everything have not been able to perform at times. So, why then?
Back in 2016, a female Porn Star travels to Iran, anonymously, of course, so according to her, only very close friends and family knew about it. She does some beauty surgery, which is very cheap in Iran. I should also note that our doctors are excellent and many people, especially from neighbor countries, visit Iran for this magical combination of excellent cheap medical services.
So, everything goes fine, and our star gets back to the US. Her casual tweets, talking about her pleasant trip and how Iranian people were warm to her, broke out as a security scandal in Iran. Some of the hardliners blamed the security agencies for a lapse in judgment in allowing such a person in the country.
In their defense, she had used her real name, not the stage name, so they had no way of knowing the true identity. Needless to say, that explanation won the joke of the year back then.
Ever since the tolerance for such scandals has dropped much lower, and the officers prefer to be safe than sorry, even if they had to ruin some celebrity’s vacation.
Also, Joss Stone came into the country from Kish airport. Kish is a resort island in the south of Iran. There is this thing in countries with centralized power model. Orders come from the capital. The authority, the decision makers, are there. In such situations, local officials, are usually given a limited amount of power, and they are trying to carefully dot the “i”s and connect the “T”s.
If she had come in from Tehran’s international airport, odds are she could get into the country. She would have been warned about certain actions and given instructions, but that would have been it.
Back in, if I am not mistaken, 2005 Christopher Hitchens came to Iran. He knew what to say. He even had grown his beard, which was unnecessary but may have helped. Hitchens was a well-known journalist at the time, but he was granted entry, and I’m happy to report he had a good time here. Now, Joss Stone is saying she is on a blacklist. Hitchens was not on a blacklist, and I am telling you neither is she. Unlike how they use it in the US, the blacklist is reserved only for active enemies of the state, not pop stars.
The case here is a simple one. She would attract unwanted publicity, and in case of her visit, some hardliners would criticize the authorities for allowing her ilk into the country, especially if she had to meet with cheering fans trying to get selfies with her, so the authorities had played it safe and rejected her request for entry. That’s it.
Brilliant by the bourgeois from ir.
The grammar’s a bit bad.
I am a women and that is illegal in Iran.
Geez, that’s harsh.