21/07/2020
Spotify, the music streaming platform, has been praised by campaigners against hatred after it removed a song described by many as “Islamophobic” and also deeply insulting to the several thousand people who died in terrorist atrocities committed against the United States in September 2001. A track by a strange parody group called Una Compton called “Zayn Did 9-11” has been circulating on several platforms, says the New Musical Express website. Compton has been named by some search engines as originating in Russia. The song aims a series of offensive remarks at the singer Zayn Malik, who is a non-practicing Muslim and popular with a diverse crowd since his solo career took off. Mr Malik is a former member of the boyband One Direction. The NME reports that many Zayn fans joined forces with anti-hate campainers to persuade Spotify to remove the song. a Spotify spokesperson told NME journalists: “Spotify does not permit content whose principal purpose is to incite hatred or violence against people because of their race, religion, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation”.
