10 Controversies of Ahmad Dhani in the Last 2 Decades, Throwing Hate Speech Leading to Jail - Calling K-Pop a Plague

Back in 2005, Ahmad Dhani was heavily criticized for stepping on a carpet with the logo of the album Laskar Cinta, which was believed to be a calligraphy written with the phrase Allah. 

In 2008, the music video by Dewa 19 titled 'Perempuan Paling Cantik di Negeriku Indonesia' received a lot of attention because it featured the red and white flag with the Dewa 19 logo attached. Roy Suryo reported this to the Directorate of National 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 a TVOne crew because he was interviewing 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 showcased many Nazi symbols. Dhani also arranged the song 'We Will Rock You' by Queen and collaborated with 3 other singers. This action received a lot of condemnation, 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 eventually sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison.

In 2018, while still in custody for the hate speech case, Dhani was reported by the Coalition to Defend the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia due to an 'idiot' 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 frequently owe money to antique goods traders at Cikapundung Market. Initially, Dhani always settled these debts, but in 2016, he took items without paying for them until 2018.

In 2023, Dhani referred to K-Pop as an epidemic while appearing on a podcast with Deddy Corbuzier. "Yes, K-Pop is like an epidemic, just like Covid. These young people do not have sovereignty over their taste. Like Al, El, Dul already have sovereignty over their taste," he said at the time. This statement immediately angered K-Pop fans.

Most recently, Ahmad Dhani proposed to Erick Tohir that foreign football players marry Indonesian women so that their children would become the future stars of Indonesian football. Dhani's idea instantly sparked controversy, even being considered racist and sexist.