8 Celebrities Who Fraternised With Dictators

By Allan Johnstone / February 3, 2014

7. Nelly Furtado And Colonel Gaddafi

The Dictator: Colonel Gaddafi, ruler of Libya from 1969-2011 The Celebrity: Nelly Furtado, Canadian pop superstar The Friendship: It seems like a no brainer- dont accept $1 million to perform a private gig for one of the worlds most hated dictators. Yet thats exactly what Nelly Furtado did for the Gaddafi clan in an Italian hotel sometime in 2007. Furtado ended up donating the money to charity, which is a nice gesture- a pity it only came after shed been rumbled by WikiLeaks. But why agree to the gig in the first place? Why did it even cross her mind that crooning Im Like A Bird to the leathery-faced human rights abuser might be a good thing?

Theres the money, obviously. But theres also the fact that since the Second World War, when you had an unambiguously evil dictator in the shape of Hitler, theres been little to no international consensus on subsequent totalitarian leaders. In the case of Gaddafi, by the time Furtado was singing for him, he was in the midst of an uptick in popularity, winning praise from George W Bush and a handshake from another celebrity (who may also have been Prime Minister of Britain) Tony Blair.

In these complicated times, its understandable if a star like Furtado- not exactly known for political nous- makes a blunder like that. Understandable, if not admissible. A more intriguing question might be, why did Gaddafi pay that much to see Nelly Furtado of all people? With his love of costume changes and troupe of Amazonian guard-women, he could have easily blown her off any stage. Maybe with stinger missiles.