Conservative Muslims across Indonesia recently descended upon the country’s capital, where they called for the cancellation of the LGBT-friendly British band Coldplay.
Conservative Muslims protest Coldplay's Indonesia show over band's LGBTQ+ support https://t.co/FtD9vOENzD
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) November 10, 2023
The British band is known for interlacing its values with its shows. Its lead singer, Chris Martin, has been seen performing while wearing rainbow colors and waving LGBT pride flags, as reported by ABC News. The band has also spoken out against so-called “climate change.”
Coldplay has an event scheduled in Indonesia’s Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno stadium for Nov. 15, 2023. The event is part of the band’s “Music Of The Spheres World Tour.” To date, over 70,000 tickets have been sold since sales opened in May 2023.
Jakarta is a profitable location for Coldplay, with over 1.6 million fans of the band living in the city, according to ABC News.
Coldplay critics say that the band’s blatant support for the LGBT community is a threat to Indonesia’s youth and could undermine the country’s culture.
On Nov. 10, 2023 — five days before Coldplay is set to perform in Jakarta — hundreds of Muslims organized a protest in the scheduled concert location, with many holding signs and banners urging the cancellation of the band’s performance in Indonesia.
The protesters chanted “God is Great” and “We reject Coldplay” in unison as they marched toward the heavily guarded British Embassy in Jakarta.
“We are here for the sake of guarding our young generation in this country from efforts that could corrupt youth,” Hery Susanto, a protester from West Java’s city of Bandung, said, per ABC News. “As Indonesian Muslims, we have to reject the Coldplay concert.”
Another protester, Novel Bamukmin, gave a speech denouncing the Indonesian government for allowing Coldplay to perform in the country, which contains the largest Muslim population anywhere in the world.
Bamukmin said that if the government fails to take action against the ban, thousands of protesters will follow Coldplay on its way from the airport.
“Coldplay has long been a strong supporter of LGBT and its lead singer is an atheist,” Bamukmin said during the protests. “We must reject their campaign, their concert here.”
In May, Indonesia’s Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said that the government would not allow any disruptions against Coldplay’s concert.
“We will make sure there are no threats coming from any group,” Uno said in May 2023.
