R&B singer Rihanna caused controversy Tuesday after being ordered to cover up by an angry farmer while shooting a raunchy video on one of his fields in Northern Ireland.
Alan Graham, 61, who lent the pop star a corn field to shoot her latest video “We Found Love,” said he found Rihanna’s behavior “inappropriate” and drove over in his tractor to tell the scantily clad star to put some clothes on.
Traffic came to a standstill near the field in Bangor, about 13 miles (21 kilometers) east of Belfast, on Monday, as fans tried to catch a glimpse of the “Rude Boy” singer, who stripped down to a red bikini and was also seen wearing an American flag bikini and unbuttoned jeans.
Graham, who admitted he was not “familiar” with Rihanna’s work, said, “If someone wants to borrow my field and things become inappropriate, then I say, ‘Enough is enough. You are not entitled to do that’.”
He added, “I requested that they stop filming and they did. I had a conversation with Rihanna and I hope she understands where I’m coming from. We shook hands.”
The farmer, also a local politician for the Democratic Unionist Party, said he did not receive any payment for loaning his field and had earlier helped Rihanna’s crew free some equipment that got stuck in the mud.
The incident even prompted a political debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly, with one politician asking the country’s first minister Peter Robinson — the leader of Graham’s political party — whether potential investors might be deterred after the pop star was kicked out of a field for nothing more than “wearing red, white and blue.”
Rihanna is understood to have resumed filming at a secret location in Belfast, where she is performing at the weekend.