This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Artist News
Amnesty apologises for unauthorised Iggy Pop photo in anti-torture campaign
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 26 June 2014
The Belgian branch of Amnesty International has apologised to Iggy Pop after it used an unauthorised picture of him in a recent campaign.
The photograph of the singer’s face was photoshopped to make it appear that he had been severely beaten. Underneath was a supposed quote from the singer, “L’avenir du rock n roll, c’est Justin Bieber” – or, “Justin Bieber is the future of rock n roll”.
The charity said in a statement: “To generate awareness about our campaign against torture, Amnesty International Belgium’s French speaking section used an image of Iggy Pop without his authorisation. Even though we acted in good faith, we would like to apologise to Iggy Pop for having done so”.
It added that the message of the campaign, which aimed to illustrate that “a man who is tortured will say anything in order to escape this awfulness”, had been missed by some people. As a result, it concluded: “We would therefore also like to make it clear that the statement attributed to Iggy Pop that he believes Justin Bieber is the future of rock and roll does not represent Iggy Pop’s personal opinion but was part of the creative process for this campaign and was intended to be ironic”.
The statement also apologised for the use of a photograph of the Dalai Lama on another poster.
