As far as ludicrous politically correct decisions are concerned, this one must sit near the top of the pile.
Apple’s iTunes service has banned a British recording artist from releasing a song on its platform under their stage name IHateIsis.
The artist chose the name as an obvious way of taking a stand against the jihadist militant group responsible for countless brutal murders and atrocities.
But it’s been alleged that iTunes was not happy with the artist’s name and provided this as their reason: “Our policy is not to distribute content which could be seen as explicitly promoting hatred towards any individual or organisation.”
While other platforms such as YouTube and SoundCloud have released the single – a revamped version of the 1960s hit “It’s Good News Week”- under the name IHateIsis, iTunes apparently stipulated that it would only release the track if the artist chose a different name.
As a result, the artist has been forced to adopt the moniker “AntiHate” in order to comply with iTunes rules:
The song was released on all download and streaming services last month.
Heat Street is awaiting comment from Apple.
In the meantime, it would appear that, despite having noble aims, the work IHateIsis chose to release is in somewhat questionable taste.
The original version of It’s Good News Week, first released in 1965 by the group Hedgepoppers Anonymous, was written and produced by British musician and TV presenter Jonathan King.
In 2001 King was jailed for seven years for sex abuse.