The video for Katy Perry’s track Dark Horse has been edited after it was accused of blasphemy.
Over 65,000 people had signed a petition to say the video was offensive to Muslims, specifically a scene in which Perry, styled as an Egyptian queen, turns a man wearing a pendant with the word “Allah” on it to dust by shooting him with lightning.
In response to the petition, the pendant appears to have been erased from the scene although it is unclear who ordered that changes be made to the video.
“The name of Allah has been removed from the Dark Horse video,” wrote petition organiser Shazad Iqbal on Change.org. “We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support so I thank each and every one of you deeply, our voices have been heard.”
Saying he was “thrilled” with the outcome, he added: “I feel that the impact we have made and the total number of signatures obtained does convey just how worthy a cause this is, it is a significant step towards the right direction.”
To date the Dark Horse video has attracted almost 40 million views on YouTube.