Was it discrimination? A-mei concert-goer says fans told to put down Pride flags during song called Rainbow

Last weekend, Taiwanese pop star A-mei performed in Singapore on her ASMeiR 2023 World Tour for two nights to the delight of her ardent fans.

Her drummer Teo Jia Rong took to TikTok to share a video from his vantage point of fans singing along to the 50-year-old's classic hit I Want Happiness.

"Nothing beats this 13k singalong," he wrote.

However, one concert-goer had gripes with something that happened during the second night (July 8).

A TikTok user going by Andee C wrote: "Wtf! We were all asked to put down our rainbow flags at A-mei's concert last night in Singapore when she literally sang the song Rainbow.

"That's outright discrimination, isn't it? Take a chill pill, it is just a flag."

The accompanying video shows a member of the security team coming up to a fan standing in the front row, pointing at their Pride flag and making an X with his hands.

The fan appears to point at their flag and say something to the security guard, but the latter shakes his hands.

Captions in the video also read: "You can never stop our Pride" and "For Pride and love".

While Andee C considered the action to be potential discrimination, one netizen had an alternative explanation to the security guard's actions.

"It's blocking the audience's view lah," they commented.

Another pointed to A-mei's 2014 concert, where she was barred from including Rainbow on her Singapore setlist, as potentially being the reason for fans being asked to put down the Pride flag.

In a 2013 performance of the song, A-mei had asked audience members to show affection for their same-sex partners and projected images of concert-goers — including gay couples — kissing.

Then-Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said that "this segment of the show promoted a pro-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) message" and that passers-by may "chance upon the performances" as it was an outdoor event.

As such concerts are typically given a General rating, the Media Development Authority had told the organiser that including the song would cause the event to "exceed a General rating", he had said. The organiser then decided to pull the song.

"A-mei was warned by police in her last concert here not to stir LGBTQ agenda in her performance," the netizen claimed. "She observed the rules but her fans are still trying."

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"You want the concert organiser to get in trouble? Wtf. Respect the public space," another commented. "I'm gay but I don't shove my beliefs down."

Andee C retorted: "It is just a flag, chill out please."

AsiaOne has reached out to Andee C and concert organiser IMC Live Global for comment.

Some also commented that the concert-goer was waving a Pride flag, which has six colours, and not a rainbow flag as Andee C referred to in his TikTok post.

However, the creator of the flag Gilbert Baker referred to it as a rainbow flag regardless of the number of colours. His original design had eight, which was reduced to six due to the difficulty in hand-dyeing them in the 1970s.

While there was also outright homophobia in the comments, some netizens took Andee C's side.

A comment read: "I think they overreacted. But still kudos to the rainbow light team," probably in reference to the rainbow light sticks other fans carried.

"It's literally just a flag," another comment read.

Andee responded in jest: "Yeah, they think it is a magic wand and we wave and everyone becomes gay."

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drimac@asiaone.com

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