Selena Gomez praises Iranian women who went viral for ‘Calm Down’ video

American pop star Selena Gomez took to Instagram to hail the spirit of five young Iranian women who danced to her song ‘Calm Down” without headscarves and whose video went viral earlier this month.

Selena shared the video on her Instagram story and wrote, “To these young women and all the women of Iran who continue to be courageous, demanding fundamental changes, please know your strength is inspiring.”

Nigerian rapper Rema retweeted a video of the dance shared by local Iranian media on Twitter, saying the act inspired him. “To all the beautiful women who are fighting for a better world, I’m inspired by you, I sing for you, and I dream with you”.

To all the beautiful women who are fighting for a better world, I’m inspired by you, I sing for you and I dream with you. ✊🏿🤍🇮🇷 https://t.co/sOCQjZnlpB

— REMA (@heisrema) March 14, 2023

The video was shot in Iran’s capital city, Tehran’s Ekabatan neighbourhood. As the video went viral, Iranian security forces detained them for 48 hours and forced them to make another video in which four women were featured with fully covered heads, stepping forward one by one to express regret over the incident, which sparked fears about their safety, news agency AFP reported.

Women are banned from dancing in public in Iran. They also need to wear headscarf, and artists can be charged with acts of immorality for showing defiance to the Islamic laws.