Kara Marni has “come a long way” since her performance at the Karma Kagyu Marme Monlam concert 2018 in the most sacred Buddhist place of Bodh Gaya (said by the organisers to have been personally handpicked/curated by the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa himself). What happened? Where is her past or present devotion or connection to Karma Kagyu or 17th Karmapa or am I missing something? Also, why were performers like Kara handpicked and treated like front row VIPs for a show attended mainly by monks and nuns? If such shows are ‘attracting people to dharma’ as one of the Khenpo monk organisers told me when I asked, then why has Kara herself shown no subsequent interest in Tibetan Buddhism or the 17th Karmapa?
Is it because she was not picked at all for her connection to Dharma or interest in it and more because she was “young and pretty” like the dollybird presenters who were also chosen for the North American Marme Monlam 2018 and not even named in the report on the event? Where were the “young and handsome” eye candy men as entertainment for the nuns and women in the audience? If it was intended for drawing ALL people to Dharma in a fun (yet Vinaya breaching way), then not having such male acts and presenters there for their physical looks and youth only is just total sexism. I requested the organisers to provide such ‘male entertainment’ for next Monlam concert and got no reply. And they even had the nerve to call it “progress” and female empowerment in the Kagyu office report. This is not a criticism of Kara Marni, who as a worldly layperson can perform whatever she wants, it is a criticism of the sexism underlying these choices of musical acts and presenters.
Although the genre of music and lyrics are not “my cup of tea” at all, is Kara’s soon to be released track (March 14, the sacred day of Chotrul Duchen) “Love Bomb” an “unintended” message for us perhaps? Timing is most symbolic. 
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https://www.facebook.com/reel/1054514849757881To add insult to injury, where is the same such front row VIP treatment and support for qualified female scholars, translators, practitioners and so on by the monks and worldly men and women around the Karmapa? None. Sexism, see it, name it, stop it.