As co-host of Los Premios MTV 2009, Calle 13's Residente, René Pérez took the stage and spotlight to highlight political issues that are close to his heart. He had as many wardrobe changes as Eva Longoria did at the 2009 ALMA Awards (if not more!), wearing a series of shirts with political statements about government officials from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Honduras and Colombia. His red-carpet wardrobe caused a particular uproar with Colombian authorities.
Residente wore the shirt pictured above, which references the Colombian president, Álvaro Uribe. Furious by Residente's stance, Manizales mayor, Juan Manuel Llano, slapped Residente a way he knew would hurt, announcing earlier today that the Calle 13 concert in Colombia has been cancelled!
Llano told local radio:
"It is an insult to Colombians that someone of talent would use this to attack Colombians and especially our president. Manizales has decided under no circumstances or for any reason can this group take part."
Calle 13’s concert in Puerto Rico scheduled for Halloween weekend was also cancelled by a government official, Jorge A. Santini Padilla, mayor of San Juan. However, unlike Llanos, Santini did not blame Residente’s controversial statements about Puerto Rican governor, Luis Fortuno, as the cause of the cancellation. The reason Santini gave for calling off the concert was that the contract for the proposed concert venue, the Roberto Clemente coliseum, was not signed. Pero, based on the statement below, we think that Santini really just wanted to get back at Residente…
"Mr. Pérez will not be bothered by the decision, because I don’t think he is interested in benefiting economically from an event that was going to be held in a facility administered by government personnel for whom he has no respect." [New York Times]
What do you think? Want to see what all the controversy is about? Then watch Los Premios MTV 2009 again, airing tonight at 7pm, Wednesday 10/21 at 11pm and Friday 10/23 at 6pm solo por MTV Tr3s!
To see more of Residente's controversial t-shirts click on over the jump!
Comments