Uh oh! A covered-up Rihanna was booted from the grounds of Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque while in town Saturday for a show over a photo shoot.
The pop singer was asked by overseers of the popular tourist destination in the United Arab Emirates’ capital to leave after posing in the mosque’s courtyard for pictures that detracted from the “sanctity” of the site.
Photos posted to Rihanna’s Instagram account show her dressed in a hijab and modest black garb, in accordance with the guidelines of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. The images show the artist standing, sitting on the grounds, posing with her hands on her hips, and giving sultry stares into the camera lens. The provocative pop star, who frequently posts naked and near-naked selfies to her various social media accounts, captioned one shot from the offending photo session, “no tan lines.”
The “Unapologetic” singer has yet to respond to the incident. The mosque, however, released an official statement Monday in local papers, saying Rihanna was not only in an area closed off to visitors, but her photo shoot violated the “status and sanctity of the mosque.”
The mosque said Rihanna was asked to leave before even entering the mosque.
This is not the artist’s first time sparking outrage over images posted to her Instagram account while on tour. In September, Rihanna posted a photo of herself with a slow loris perched on her shoulder with the accompanying caption, “Look who was talkin dirty to me.” Police, however, were not amused and promptly arrested two men– In Thailand, it is illegal to charge tourists for photos with the furry primate because the critters are a protected species.
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