COLOMBO: An entertainment company owned by two Sri Lankan cricket legends apologised on Monday for an Enrique Iglesias concert where local women shed their underwear, sparking outrage from the country’s president.

Live Events, owned by Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, admitted that security “failed alarmingly” and apologised for the “negative experience” during the one-hour concert in Colombo on Dec 20.

Fans had paid prices ranging from 5,000 rupees to 50,000 rupees ($350) for tickets to the show which was part of the Spanish star’s world tour, “Love and Sex”.

They did not directly refer to President Maithripala Sirisena’s criticism that intoxicated local women had thrown their bras at the singer and kissed and hugged him.

“I don’t advocate that these uncivilised women who removed their brassieres should be beaten with toxic stingray tails, but those who organised such an event should be,” the president said on Sunday.

In conservative Sri Lankan society, public displays of affection, even among married couples, are frowned upon. Police are known to have arrested courting couples for kissing in public parks or seafront promenades.

Sirisena did not name the two cricket stars, but it was widely known that the concert was hosted by a company set up recently by the pair after Sangakkara retired from international cricket in August.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2015