When Shakira Shakes Her Tush on Afghanistan TV...

A couple of months ago, I was telling you about a Gwen Stefani concert in Kuala Lumpur for which the usually provocative diva was forced to cover herself up a little more than usual (which, given who we were talking about, actually meant something). And now it would seem that another, even more provocative, hip-shaking celebrity caused a stir with the booty-shaking action that usually accompanies her singing and has become pretty much trademark for her public appearances and music videos. I'm talking about Shakira...and yes, now that you know this is about her, you can pretty much picture exactly what I'm talking about.

The Colombian beauty caused a pretty big stir in Afghanistan recently. My first thought when I learned about this piece of news was that Afghanistan is probably not the most female-friendly place on earth, especially if the celebrity in question is famed for the lascivious dance movements that accompany her throaty vocals. The funny part is Shakira was not even there - that would have been kind of strange, actually - but one of her concerts was aired on a privately owned television station. And strangely enough, it seems that the real problem was not the booty, but the upper half of Shakira's body, which was eventually covered with computer pixels. Yes, I know, how sexy is that...

"We believe Shakira's song will be shown with Tolo TV's exclusive logo at the training camps for suicide attackers to urge our immature young people to leave a number of our mothers bereaved", claimed a conservative newspaper. OK, that really made me laugh out loud. Shakira, encourage suicide bombers? She's talented, you know, has a good voice, writes her own songs. In that case, those bombers better start using Paris Hilton as decoy. People would voluntarily blow themselves up after listening to just one of her songs. I know, it's not supposed to be funny...but it is.

Saad Mohseni, who owns the infamous Tolo TV (the private TV station which broadcast Shakira's concert) and who grew up in Australia, doesn't seem to be bothered too much about the stir he caused by plastering the singer's bootilicious body all over the Afghan television: "This was not that provocative and Shakira was pixilated. The government are looking for an excuse to have a go at us", he said. Well, that may certainly be true, but I do think baby steps is the safe way to go in these circumstances. He wanted to do too much, too fast - it would have been better if he had started with someone less provocative and then moved on to Shakira. Or he should have just broadcast Britney's VMA performance. Yes, that would have established a bad reputation for Western female singers. After Britney, no one would even have turned on the TV to see Shakira...