Rihanna: get off my land and find God, farmer tells singer
But when she chose to shoot her latest video on a farm in Northern Ireland, she found one man immune to her charms.Farmer Alan Graham, 61, was so shocked to see the singer in his barley field wearing a red bikini that he pulled up his tractor, objected to her “inappropriate state of undress” and called a swift halt to proceedings.
While a meeting with Rihanna would be the stuff of dreams for most red-blooded males, Mr Graham instructed her to brush up on her Bible reading before sending her on her way.
“If someone wants to borrow my field and things become inappropriate, then I say, ‘Enough is enough’,” he explained yesterday.
“I wish no ill will against Rihanna and her friends. Perhaps they could acquaint themselves with a greater God.”
The father-of-four and Democratic Unionist Party alderman for North Down Borough Council had given permission for the filming on his 60 acres of land in Clandeboye, outside Bangor. The Barbadian singer was shooting a video for her new single, We Found Love.
“I never heard of Rihanna until someone called me requesting the use of my land. Someone explained she was as big as it gets as far as pop stars were concerned, but I’m a bit illiterate about those issues. I’m a bit long in the tooth for all that,” said Mr Graham.
Traffic ground to a halt on the nearby A2 as proceedings got under way, with Rihanna, 23, wearing a demure checked dress.
However, when Mr Graham drove past later in the shoot he was horrified to find that the singer had disrobed.
“Most of the video took place in a field adjacent to a main road, which was a public place. It was when the film crew went to a further away field that I felt things were becoming inappropriate and I asked for the filming to stop,” he said.
If the singer was wearing swimwear, it was unlike any that Mr Graham had encountered before. “I felt Rihanna was in more of a state of undress than a bikini top,” he said. One photograph of the shoot appeared to show her topless.
Mr Graham, a devout Christian, thought it time to impart some advice.
“I had a conversation with Rihanna and I hope she understands where I’m coming from. Everybody needs to be acquainted with God and to consider his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his death and Resurrection.
“I hope she understands where I’m coming from. We shook hands and parted on good terms.”
Rihanna, who has made a name for herself with provocative dance routines, is playing three sell-out shows at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena this weekend but Mr Graham has no plans to attend. He has not been paid for the curtailed shoot.
“There was no firm arrangement. I have not received any payment and I don’t know if I will,” he said.
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