Spotify has been censoring a playlist by Malaysian artist-activist Fahmi Reza multiple times since yesterday, apparently for mocking the queen.
The playlist appears to be taking a jab at Queen Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, who recently teased someone on social media after bragging about getting the vaccine. The playlist, titled This is Dengki Ke (Jealousy), quoted part of the comment she posted online and featured 101 songs with the word “Jealous” in the title.
“In the past 24 hours, @Spotify has censored and removed the image of the playlist ‘This Is Dengki Ke?’ 20 times,” the 44-year-old artist, who is known for his satirical graphics featuring Malaysia’s politicians and their various fumbles, wrote online today.
Neither Spotify HQ nor Spotify Malaysia responded to Coconuts’ requests for comment via email as of publication time.
Fahmi added: “Since 9am yesterday morning, every time Spotify removes it, I have uploaded a new image, with a new colour and a new serial number. The battle continues.”
The multilingual playlist had a photo of Malaysia’s queen on the cover and was first uploaded on Wednesday. It began with the song Jealous by British rockers Queen. Fahmi also added the same playlist to Apple Music today.
The Spotify playlist is still up when Coconuts checked this afternoon. It has since garnered over 1,500 followers. Other songs include Jealous by K-pop band TVXQ and Jealous by former Malaysian Idol winner Jaclyn Victor.
“I will not erase the This Is #DengkiKe playlist. Enjoy the playlist. Fuck censorship,” Fahmi said in a separate tweet.
Malaysia’s Islamic political party’s youth wing has also lodged a police complaint about the offending playlist, claiming that it is “trolling” the queen.
“Even though the title is short and effective, the playlist clearly trolls the queen,” its representative Ahmad Fadhli Shaari told the press yesterday.
The artist created the playlist after the hashtag #DengkiKe on Twitter was posted more than 100,000 times following the queen’s cheeky social media comment: “Are you jealous?”
She was replying to someone asking whether all her palace chefs had been vaccinated too.
Malaysia’s royals are under pressure to explain themselves after a report by the Asia Sentinel alleged that they’ve received Sinopharm vaccines from the United Arab Emirates that were unapproved by Malaysia’s Health Ministry.
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