SCORPIONS DRUMMER JAILED IN DUBAI
The Associated Press is reporting that Newspapers in the United Arab Emirates are reporting that the American drummer for the rock band Scorpions has been sentenced to one month in jail after being convicted of offensive behavior in Dubai.
The government-backed National newspaper reported Tuesday that James Kottak was convicted of insulting Islam, raising his middle finger, and being under the influence of alcohol while in transit at Dubai airport.
The Gulf News daily says he was arrested April 3rd en route from Russia to Bahrain, where the German band was scheduled to perform at a Formula One race. Kottak was a no-show at the April 5th concert.
The newspapers say Kottak admitted to drinking but denied other charges.
The Scorpions’ manager did not respond to requests for comment. Kottak’s local lawyer couldn’t immediately be reached.
source: myfoxny.com
Whatever he did to “insult Islam”, he’s probably lucky to only get 1 month in jail – hopefully it stays only at that. That part of the world, it seems like anything can happen if you’re deemed to “insult Islam”. Islam must be pretty fragile if being buzzed and flipping the bird is enough to be insulting to the entire religion. Maybe you have to be an oil prince to get drunk and disorderly in the Middle East. Being an American over there puts you at a disadvantage right away. On the other hand, if there are customs and behavioral laws that are required to be followed in a country – the band’s management should be responsible for knowing what they are and informing all personnel traveling with the band. I was recently reading the booklet that came with the old Metallica Binge and Purge box set, and there are some letters between the band’s management and officials in some countries they toured talking about stuff like this: can they go on stage without shirts, can they swear, can they spit, etc. In some cases the answers were pretty much “Avoid this as much as possible, it’s insulting to our culture and you could be arrested.” Not saying I think it’s right to jail him for something like that, but if he was warned he should have known better. It’s not like the Scorpions are new to international tours, somebody should have told him what NOT to do.
That best sums this up. Thank you metalmania!
Sorry that your faith was insulted… how about when Islamic extremists killed thousands of americans on 9/11? How insulting was that to our country?
As Kareem Abdul Jabbar so eloquently put it – blaming all of Islam for 911, is like blaming Christianity for the KKK.
And, might I also add: “trying to argue with someone who is ignorant is like administering medicine to a dead person.”
911 the Muslims where dancing in the streets.
Seen it myself.
Right in Paterson nj. They where all celebrating.
Well that confirms it then. All ‘Muslims’ which is the same as Islam all conspired on 911. That means we all support the KKK then. That also means we’re all Nazi’s cause Hitler claimed to be acting on God’s and Christianity’s beliefs. Thanks for wrapping that up in that neat little bundle for us. Case closed.
I am just glad we have such competence at the state department…I am sure they will straighten out this mess.
….they’ll probably blame it on one of the Scorpions’ videos. However, at this point, “what difference does it make?”
I find it funny that one still believes the spoonfed media’s version of 9/11. They claim to have found Mohammed Atta’s passport yet they couldn’t find one of the “four” black boxes from the two planes. Makes sense, ha? Fools…
As for Kottak, if the accusations are true, how can you defend him? Whilst I don’t agree with the severity of the sentence, if you can’t respect other cultures/laws/religons as evident in many of the posts above, we as humanity are doomed…
These bands whore themselves out by playing these retrograde hellholes. Stick to democracies, boys. Or totalitarian states that aren’t theocracies.
So it is the fault of Dubai not the drunken 50 year old shithead disrespecting a culture that was employing him in his craft. Some of you bloggers are really clueless or just plain dumb. So it is an act of patriotism to defend a replacement drummer playing in a band from Germany against a religion of over a billion people, most of whom did not attack or support the attack against America.
Satanic bands play nations with Christian majorities all the time. Without being jailed. You’re the one who is clueless. Much of the “Islamic world” DID support the attacks, check out Al Qaeda’s popularity in Saudi/Pakistan/Yemen etc. Your ignorance is only matched by your arrogance.
Freedom of Speech is embraced by all of us in this country, until someone says something that somebody else doesn’t like. Please remember that. You get what you pay for. Please also remember that in the Middle East, Americans are considered the terrorist – just as we/you view Middle Easterners as terrorists. Last time I checked, we were the ones in their countries and starting or perpetuating wars. Doesn’t make Middle East factions innocent or just. But it doesn’t make us innocent or just either. Bottom line is, I don’t need to see a drunk 50 year old drop his pants and show his ass on a plane trip to Dubai. If he was in ‘Merica someone probably would’ve beat the shit out of him or a US Marshall would’ve blown his head off. He should consider himself lucky.
Very well put DR. Wish more would have this type of insight and the ability to reflect on how the good ole’ US of A is perceived world wide. Just ask the American Indian… __I:o{=
Also what you’re saying is come to America, get drunk and disrespect our religious institutions and we got your back ’cause that is ROCK N’ROLL.