I wouldn’t blame Mariah Carey much for this

She’s responding to the reports that she sang a few songs for an obscene amount of money at a New Year’s bash for one of the Qaddafi boys (Saif al-Islam, I believe):

1947: Mariah Carey said on her website: “I was naive and unaware of who I was booked to perform for. I feel horrible and embarrassed to have participated in this mess.” The statement said funds from a new song would be donated for “human rights issues” and that she “may even set up her own foundation”.

It’s hard to blame her too much here. As I’ve said, if you had seen Saif speak in the past, you might well have thought (as I did) that “this guy seems pretty reasonable, unlike his dad.” Of course, there were a number of alarming statements out there already from him, but you’d have had to really be digging on Google to find them. His public persona used to be basically likable.