10 Controversies of Ahmad Dhani Over the Last 2 Decades, Hate Speech Leading to Prison - Calling K-Pop an Epidemic

In 2005, Ahmad Dhani faced heavy criticism for stepping on a carpet with the logo of the album Laskar Cinta, which was believed to be calligraphy inscribed with the name of Allah.

In 2008, the music video of Dewa 19 titled Perempuan Paling Cantik di Negeriku Indonesia came under scrutiny because it featured the red and white flag with the Dewa 19 logo attached to it. Roy Suryo reported this to the Directorate of State Security. Dhani then agreed to replace the music video after receiving a call from the Palace.

In 2009, Dhani once hit a camera belonging to the TVOne crew due to an interview with Mulan about Dhani's statement claiming he had married her in a religious ceremony.

In 2014, Dhani made a support video for Prabowo. The video prominently displayed Nazi symbols. Dhani also rearranged Queen's song 'We Will Rock You' and collaborated with 3 other singers. This action received a lot of criticism, especially from international media, with TIME even calling the video the worst campaign tool in history.

In 2016, Ahmad Dhani was reported for allegedly insulting Jokowi during a speech. At that time, Dhani was suspected of mentioning animal names alongside Jokowi's name.

Ahmad Dhani was embroiled in a hate speech case due to several tweets from his Twitter account @AHMADDHANIPRAST in March 2017. He was reported for allegedly violating Article 28 Paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 45 (2) of Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions. In short, Dhani was ultimately sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison.

In 2018, while still a detainee for the hate speech case, Dhani was reported by the Coalition to Defend the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia due to a 'stupid' vlog that was deemed defamatory. For this case, Dhani was sentenced to 1 year in prison, but he appealed and his appeal was accepted.

In 2018, Ahmad Dhani was reported to often owe money to antique traders at Cikapundung Market. Initially, Dhani always paid off those debts, but in 2016, he took items and did not pay for them until 2018.

In 2023, Dhani referred to K-Pop as an epidemic during his appearance on a podcast with Deddy Corbuzier. "Yes, K-Pop is like an epidemic, just like Covid. If these young people don't have sovereignty of taste. Like Al, El, Dul already have sovereignty of taste," he said at that time. The statement immediately angered K-Pop fans.

Recently, Ahmad Dhani proposed to Erick Tohir that foreign football players should marry Indonesian women so that their children would become the next generation of top Indonesian football players. Dhani's idea quickly sparked controversy, even being deemed racist and sexist.