Queen Broke Apartheid's Cultural Boycott

Nine months before British rock band Queen performed at Live Aid in July 1985, it played 12 shows at Sun City in apartheid-era South Africa. The resort stood inside Bophuthatswana, one of the government's nominally independent Black homelands, and the performances violated a United Nations cultural boycott. Queen defended its decision by claiming it remained nonpolitical and played wherever fans wanted to hear it. The British Musicians' Union fined the band, while the United Nations placed it on a blacklist that lasted until apartheid ended.

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