Not sure how much this has been picked up overseas but , according to the Hollywood Reporter, Jennifer Lopez’s birthday performance for autocratic Turkmenistan leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was paid for by China National Petroleum Corporation, which does a lot of business with Turkmenistan.

Why does this matter? It show the split between the Chinese model of focusing on businesses deals while eschewing the politics, compared to the Western media model, where an entertainer will be evaluated by the company or regime she performs for.

I can imagine that between Turkmenistan and China National Petroleum Corporation there is a question of: what business is this of the Western media?

And so the question to the consumers of Western media, of course is: why does J. Lo performing in Turkmenistan matter to you?

(image AFP)