Mariah Carey belted out her hit songs for Angolan despot José Eduardo dos Santos and his family last weekend for more than $1 million — even though she apologized in 2008 for performing for Moammar Khadafy’s family, a human-rights watchdog says.
A smiling Carey posed for a picture with the Southern African dictator, his daughter and his wife.
“I am happy to be here in this room, and I am honored to share this show with the president of Angola,” the pop singer said at the gala, according to the Human Rights Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on protecting and promoting human-rights globally.
The foundation blasted her for taking payment from a “tyrant.”
“Mariah Carey can’t seem to get enough dictator cash,” the group’s president, Thor Halvorssen, said.
“Just five years ago, she performed for the family of Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy. Now she goes from private performances to public displays of support and credibility for one of Africa’s chief human-rights violators and most corrupt tyrants.”
The diva made two performances in the country. She appeared at a public show at Luanda’s Coqueiros Stadium, which was sponsored by Unitel, a cellphone company controlled by dos Santos’ daughter, Isabel.
Carey also cranked out hits for two hours at a gala fund-raiser for the Angola Red Cross, which Isabel heads.
In addition to Isabel, the gala was attended by José Eduardo dos Santos and his wife, Ana Paula.
“It is the sad spectacle of an international artist purchased by a ruthless police state to entertain and whitewash the father-daughter kleptocracy that has amassed billions in ill-gotten wealth while the majority of Angola lives on less than $2 a day,” Halvorssen said.
Dos Santos, the world’s second-longest-serving dictator, has ordered the execution of many politicians, journalists and activists who defy his rule.
His family has “exploited oil and diamond wealth to build total control over all branches of the government, the military, and the courts,” the Human Rights Foundation alleges.
A Carey rep did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
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