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"Erykah Badu has had to defend herself for performing &amp;quot;Happy Birthday&amp;quot; at a party for Swaziland King Mswati III, the leader of what Amnesty International describes as &amp;quot;Africa&amp;apos;s last remaining absolute monarchy.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;She owes us all an explanation,&amp;quot; Human Rights Foundation&amp;apos;s director of institutional affairs, Alex Gladstein, said in a statement. &amp;quot;The king is a kleptocrat who lives in the lap of obscene luxury while most of his countrymen toil in abject poverty for less than $2 a day.&amp;quot; According to Billboard, Badu replied in a since-deleted Tweet, &amp;quot;I was not paid by the KING. I had no idea of the political climate.&amp;quot;\r\nSix Ways America Is Like a Third-World Country\r\nBadu, who had been in South Africa working on a record, said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News that she made the trip as a &amp;quot;harmless&amp;quot; last-minute favor for an acquaintance. The party&amp;apos;s organizer, Jacob &amp;quot;The Jeweler&amp;quot; Arabo, had told her that one of the performers had dropped off the bill and he needed a replacement, so she took an hour-long helicopter to sing for a packed stadium. She gave Mswati a gift from Arabo and departed to stay at a friend&amp;apos;s house. &amp;quot;And all the money that I got from the trip I gave to all the servants in the house,&amp;quot; she said.\r\n&amp;quot;I want to address the people, not a group or a government agency,&amp;quot; she told the Dallas Morning News. &amp;quot;The people know I was not endorsing the king or helping to further his political agenda. I have no agenda. I went into a situation not completely knowing the political climate of the kingdom. I can&amp;apos;t be held responsible for the situation in the kingdom because I signed up as an artist, not as a political activist. I don&amp;apos;t belong to anyone or to anything. Anything I do is because I am a human being, and I am for the people.&amp;quot;\r\nAmnesty International&amp;apos;s 2013 annual report on the country expressed concern over excessive force used against protesters, reports of torture and inhibited rights to self-expression. The CIA World Factbook claims Swaziland has the world&amp;apos;s highest prevalence of AIDS in adults. The Washington Times reports that, according to the United Nations, 63 percent of the country&amp;apos;s population lives on less than $1.25 a day. And in September, Mswati took his 15th wife, an 18-year-old, according to The Telegraph; three of the King&amp;apos;s wives have fled the country, claiming physical and emotional abuse in recent years.\r\n&amp;quot;All the people were smiling when I sang,&amp;quot; Badu tweeted. &amp;quot;I was smiling. We all felt good in that moment.&amp;quot;\r\nVia Twitter, the singer contested the idea that it was mandatory for the country&amp;apos;s citizens to attend the party. She said that her appearance was a &amp;quot;surprise for the King and the people.&amp;quot; She battled with tweeters, telling one to &amp;quot;go to human rights class&amp;quot; and telling another, who claimed to be Swazi and &amp;quot;directly affected by Mswati&amp;apos;s oppression,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;U on Twitter tho, oppressing me.&amp;quot; She even said she would perform in North Korea. &amp;quot;The people aren&amp;apos;t the government,&amp;quot; she wrote.\r\n&amp;quot;Every time I respond to cruel accusations from my African freedom fighting brothers, I know I&amp;apos;m giving them a platform to further their agenda,&amp;quot; she wrote Thursday. &amp;quot;If one watched closely, we would appear as if we were a team. Good cop, bad cop. . . using my platform to give legs to their brothers in jail. In actuality. They see me as a naive, sensitive whose platform can be used and fluffed at the artist&amp;apos;s expense. Unnecessary Roughness.&amp;quot;\r\nBut Tuesday, she wrote, &amp;quot;I love Twitter. Sometimes it can really give us a voice. Sometimes it makes [us] see our errors. . . Right now. . . I wish the world was better.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/erykah-badu-defends-swaziland-performance-amid-abuse-allegations-20140501>