Lady GaGa has found herself in hot water in Thailand after an apparently innocuous tweet was pounced on by many angry at a perceived slight towards their great and good country. It adds to a rather turbulent beginning to Gaga's latest world tour, one which has already seen her face protests in Korea and the Philippines as well as being forced to cancel a show in Indonesia after security fears.
She can add Thailand to the list of unhappy Asian countries now, after tweeting "I just landed in Bangkok baby! Ready for 50,000 screaming Thai monsters. I wanna get lost in a lady market and buy a fake rolex." Stereotyping the nation has been frowned upon by officials' right at the top of the hierarchy, with many thinking the American pop star should apologize.
"Lady Gaga is a representative of the U.S. and the U.S. puts pressure on smaller countries to promote the protection of intellectual property," an official at the ministry's Intellectual Property Department said to Reuters, having requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Continuing, he added "She should tell her fans that they shouldn't use fake goods." It should be noted however, that the comments made on May 23rd 2012 didn't detract from attendance at her concert in the Thai capital two days later, with some 50,000 turning up to watch the star.