Music Star Demi Lovato Apologizes for Visiting Israel: 'I Realize It Hurt People'
Can a personal spiritual experience become a public political controversy? If you’re as famous as singer Demi Lovato, sadly the answer is yes.
After recently taking a trip to Israel and being baptized in the Jordan River, Lovato said she was sorry for the “hurt” she caused.
Lovato, who said that she was “raised Christian and [has] Jewish ancestors,” wrote on Instagram that she considered the trip an “opportunity to be able to fill the God-sized hole in my heart.”
“There’s something magical about Israel. I’ve never felt such a sense of spirituality or connection to God … something I’ve been missing for a few years now.”
But according to Page Six, Lovato apologized in a since-deleted Instagram story for “thinking this trip was just a spiritual experience.”
In her story, the singer explained her thinking behind her travels.
“I accepted a free tree to Israel in exchange for a few posts,” she wrote. “No one ever told me there would be anything wrong with going or that I could possibly be offending anyone.”
“With that being said, I’m sorry if I’ve hurt or offended anyone, that was not my intention.”
While Lovato reiterated that her trip was “meant to be a spiritual experience for me, NOT A POLITICAL STATEMENT,” she also apologized for “not being more educated.”
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What kind of education could have spared Lovato the groveling apology? What special knowledge could have allowed her to realize the trip was not “just a spiritual experience”? The singer did not elaborate.
The highlights of Lovato’s tour were pretty anodyne. She visited the World Holocaust Remembrance Center and met with children with disabilities at the Shalva National Center, as Israel National News reported.
Those stops didn’t provoke Lovato’s Instagram penance. Rather, it was the fact that she dared travel to Israel in the first place that inspired the apology.
In some corners of the American left, trips to Israel have become taboo.
Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Madonna have come under fire for performing in the country this year.
Others, like Lorde and Lana Del Rey, have canceled concerts in the country after facing backlash.
If holding a concert in Israel is verboten, it stands to reason that a “spiritual journey” to the Holy Land would be, as well.
And if that is the case, then Demi Lovato is just the latest victim of a culture of outrage.
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