American singer, Beyonce, received backlash for her concert on January 21st in the United Arab Emirates. This was Beyonce’s first full concert in four years.

Beyonce has been receiving great amounts of backlash for this event due to the human rights issues that occur in the UAE. In the United Arab Emirates, homosexuality is highly illegal and can even be punishable by death.

This did not come as a great shock considering other celebrities have pulled out of playing in the UAE per request of the Human Rights Foundation. Representatives of Beyonce have been reached out to ask about this decision but there have not been any comments from her team thus far.

A student from Hidden Valley says “I don’t think that it should be that big of a deal if it’s clear that Beyonce isn’t homophobic herself. If she has displayed homophobic tendencies prior, then it would be a different story but if she wants to perform for her fans in Dubai, then she should be able to.”

Another issue that fans of Beyonce have with this performance is that of the 19 songs performed, none were from her most recent album, Renaissance, which has been known to be a tribute to Black LGBTQ culture. While some fans are outraged by the absence of these songs, other LGBTQ members are not sure why this situation has angered so many people.

Some say that LGBTQ events are scheduled in Dubai that receive protection from police. Along with weekly events that the government has full knowledge about. People that live in Dubai also state that people outside of the UAE wont understand the actual safety of Dubai and the regularly scheduled events that take place there so there shouldn’t be an opinion from anyone with little knowledge of the area.