In light of the recent protests and violence in Tibet this week, Icelandic singer Björk has blasted recent media reports she was dumped from a major music festival for making supportive statements about independence during a Chinese concert. “When I said ‘Tibet, Tibet,’ I whispered it three times,” the “Army Of Me” singer insists. “There was no fuss in the room.

It happened afterwards on websites. It shows more than anything that China has become the next superpower in the world. And the issue is, how are they going to deal with Western moral issues like freedom of speech? Songs like ‘Declare Independence’ for me are about humanity. I stand by what I said.”