Members of the Black Eyed Peas wore rainbow bracelets during a New Year’s Eve performance on Polish broadcaster TVP, causing an uproar in Warsaw’s right-wing populist government. Frontman William James Adams aka will.i.am dedicated the song “Where’s The Love” to the Jewish, African and LGBTQ community. The live broadcast had a rating of over eight million people.
In a video after the performance, will.i.am explained, also with reference to the Polish ruling party, that the band was not ‘Black Eyed PiS’, but ‘Black Eyed Peace’ and stood for ‘unity, love and tolerance’ . . The Law and Justice (PiS) party, led by Jarosław Kaczyński, has been ruling the country together with its smaller partners since 2015. The government continues to stir up anti-queer people. The public broadcaster TVP, largely controlled by PiS, is also considered extremely anti-queer.
The Black Eyed Peas’ rainbow appearance provoked an irritated reaction from the government. Justice Secretary Marcin Warchoł tweeted on New Year’s Eve: “LGBT advertising on TVP2. Too bad! It’s not a New Year of dreams, but a New Year of detour.”
State Secretary of Agriculture Janusz Kowalski added: “Homosexual propaganda on DVT for a million dollars. It was not a good change. Too bad.”
On Twitter, however, the Black Eyed Peas were also accused of hypocrisy because the band performed without such symbols in far more anti-queer countries, such as Saudi Arabia or the World Cup in Qatar (reports queer.de). will.i.am tweeted, “We went to Saudi Arabia and played ‘Where’s The Love’ there too.” (I don’t know)