This image taken on Could 12, 2024, reveals South Korean comic Youn Sung-ho, often called NewJeansNim, carrying monk’s robes leaving the stage after an digital dance music celebration (EDM) occasion for the annual lotus lantern competition to have a good time the upcoming Buddha’s birthday in Seoul. The controversial DJ “monk” will keep away from a ban in Singapore by performing within the city-state with out his gown or any spiritual references, a nightclub internet hosting him mentioned Thursday, Could 23, 2024. JUNG YEON-JE / AFP
SINGAPORE — A controversial South Korean DJ “monk” will keep away from a ban in Singapore by performing within the city-state with out his gown or any spiritual references, a nightclub internet hosting him mentioned Thursday, Could 23.
Youn Sung-ho, who goes by the moniker NewJeansNim, is a comedian-turned-musician credited with reviving Buddhism’s recognition amongst younger South Koreans—at the same time as his performances have ruffled feathers regionally.
With a shaved head, he wears a monk’s gown and dispenses Buddhist knowledge and Gen-Z life recommendation over thumping digital dance music beats.
He’s scheduled to carry out subsequent month at a nightclub in Singapore, an ethnically numerous city-state the place legal guidelines limit speech or actions considered as dangerous to spiritual concord.
However the nation’s inside minister on Wednesday issued a robust warning to the house owners of Membership Wealthy Singapore that police would take motion if the efficiency proceeded based mostly on what the DJ had achieved elsewhere—dressing in a monk’s gown and utilizing Buddhist verses and spiritual paraphernalia.
“This may have been offensive to our Buddhist neighborhood. This isn’t acceptable,” House Affairs and Legislation Minister Ok. Shanmugam wrote on Fb.
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On Thursday, the nightclub mentioned that the present can be held as scheduled on June 19 and 20 however with none references to faith.
“There shall be no spiritual efficiency in the course of the occasion however we’ll be certain that you’ll nonetheless have a fun-filled night time at Membership Wealthy Singapore,” the nightclub mentioned on Fb.
The Singapore Police Power mentioned in a press release to AFP on Thursday that they’d engaged the nightclub’s operators and been assured the efficiency would “not contain any components related to faith, be it within the apparel, hand gestures, artefacts, songs and lyrics.”
The police warned that “any breaches shall be handled firmly in accordance with the regulation.”
The DJ carried out earlier in Could in Muslim-majority Malaysia, which has a major Buddhist minority.
However a second gig deliberate for later this month was canceled after his efficiency noticed offended native Buddhists file police complaints.
In South Korea, he has the assist of followers and the president of the nation’s largest Buddhist sect, the Jogye Order, who has urged him to proceed, seeing the DJ as a method of attracting new, youthful followers.
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