Fans urge Justin Timberlake to condemn repression ahead of Tbilisi concert

A Justin Timberlake concert scheduled for next week in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, has prompted local backlash in the form of an online petition calling for the American pop artist to condemn what it describes as a “dark authoritarian turn” in the country.

The Cry Me a River singer is billed to play Tbilisi’s Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena on July 23, in a show held as part of a state-funded initiative designed to attract global music stars to perform in Georgia. 

Now, some self-identified Justin Timberlake fans in the country have launched a petition on the Change.org website, urging the artist to publicly condemn “repression unfolding in Georgia” and to meet with local activists ahead of the gig. 

The petition condemns the Georgian government’s increasing authoritarianism over the past year, citing the jailing of journalists and opposition leaders, a crackdown on protest, flawed elections, and a raft of draconian laws used to stifle dissent. It describes the planned concert as a ruling party “propaganda campaign, used to sell Georgia as free and open and distract the people from ongoing crimes and human rights abuses.”

Speaking to OCCRP, the petition’s organizer, Davit Jintcharadze, said he registered the initiative on Tuesday, and by the evening it had attracted around 100 signatures. According to Change.org, over 2,000 people have now signed the petition. 

“The main goal is to tell the world about what is happening in Georgia,” Jintcharadze told OCCRP, saying the concert was being held “to overshadow the protests,” but that “in reality, it doesn’t reflect the tragedy that is happening in the country at all.” 

Jintcharadze said that the aim was not to cause anger by pressuring Timberlake to cancel his event at short notice, adding that “many people in Georgia love [him].” He insisted, however, that the singer should ensure he was not being “used” by Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, and to state publicly that “dictatorship is unacceptable.”

A Georgian rock band, Loudspeakers, has also voiced support of the petition, urging Timberlake to “stand with the people who are fighting for the country’s freedom.”

“Even just a few words from him, a message that he supports Georgia’s freedom and democratic future, I am sure would be a huge stimulus and source of strength for every one of us who is in this fight,” lead singer Levan Laudadze told OCCRP.

OCCRP has contacted Justin Timberlake’s management firm and tour publicists for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Launched in 2023, the government-supported Starring Georgia campaign has already brought many popular acts to Georgia. Most performances take place at Guria’s Black Sea Arena, a state-owned venue previously controlled by a company linked to billionaire and ruling party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. The arena’s website lists an upcoming concert from the Australian electronic duo Empire of the Sun under the campaign.

“Georgian Dream uses everything—including concerts—for legitimation and to create a facade, to make it seem as if someone is still maintaining relations with them, as if everything is the same as it was before this crisis,” said Marika Mikiashvili, a member of a local opposition coalition group.

At least one popular act invited to Georgia as part of the Starring Georgia  campaign has previously canceled their performance in response to public outrage. Last June, the British trip-hop band Massive Attack publicly refused to perform, issuing a statement “in protest of the Georgian government’s attack on basic human rights.” 

In response to Massive Attack’s cancellation, one ruling party MP, Irakli Kadagishvili, blamed activists for having “pressured and demoralized these people to such a degree that they forgot what truly matters — that art is just art”.