Black Eyed Peas to Perform in China Despite Criticism

Black Eyed Peas front man will.i.am says his group will go ahead with plans to perform in China despite calls for artists to boycott the country over its human rights record.

Celebrities such as Richard Gere are urging fellow entertainers to forgo trips to China until the country allows Tibet to decide its own future.

In an interview with the BBC, will.i.am called the recent crackdown “messed up” and thinks it was wrong to “punish a whole country.”

“They have all this Chinese boycott stuff — they want to boycott the games but do the people get punished when they have nothing to do with what’s going on?” he said. “If you boycott China, when do they boycott America for what we’re doing in Iraq?”