Usually when a singer apologizes for singing a particular song, it’s because the lyrics were in some way offensive.  This isn’t the case for Jennifer Lopez.  Rather than being outraged by the content of a song she sang at a concert on Saturday, people are upset because of the person for whom the song was intended.

Lopez sang “Happy Birthday” to the leader of Turkmenistan, a former Soviet bloc country, during a show.  Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedo, the Turkmenistan leader, is accused of being an oppressive ruler by human rights group.  According to the country’s profile on a human rights website, “The authorities continue to use imprisonment as a tool for political retaliation and to restrict peoples’ right to travel freely.”

While the concert was hosted by the China National Petroleum Corp., Lopez’s publicist says that the concert wasn’t meant to be political.  Lopez received scathing comments for the song on Twitter and many questioned the singer and actress’s character.  Ronan Farrow, a civil rights activist and lawyer, tweeted the following: “Singing happy birthday to dictators while dissidents and journalists die in their torture chambers? Still Jenny from the block, JLo?”

Lopez’s publicist claims that she didn’t know anything about the oppressive nature of the Turkmenistan leader.  According to the publicist, “Had there been knowledge of human rights issues any kind, Jennifer would not have attended.”  The publicist also said that the birthday song wasn’t planned and that the request was sprung on Lopez at the last minute.  Lopez reportedly wore a Turkmen dress while she sang for Berdimuhamedo.

According to Lopez’s publicist, she doesn’t have any more events scheduled for Turkmenistan. This particular concert was held in a $2 billion yacht club that the Turkmen leader opened the day before.  The concert was a private event to celebrate Berdimuhamedo’s birthday and there were CEOs, ambassadors and other important people in attendance.

This isn’t the first time a celebrity has unwittingly attended an event for someone who is an oppressive ruler. Beyonce, Usher and Mariah Carey performed at parties for the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was accused of mass killings.  All of the singers later apologized for their attendance and claimed that they weren’t aware of the crimes against humanity committed by Gadhafi.  All of the stars later promised to donate their performance fees to charity.

While Lopez hasn’t released a personal statement about the event yet, it is likely that she will do something to make amends for her mistake.