For many men, having a world-famous pop beauty undress on their doorstep would be a cause for celebration. But not for farmer Alan Graham, 61, as Rihanna found out when she posed topless on his land for a racy video shoot.
The 23-year-old singer was forced to beat a hasty retreat from Mr Graham’s muddy field in Northern Ireland after he interrupted the filming and told her to cover up.
Rihanna had been filming the video for her latest single, We Found Love, with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris – which at one point saw the singer go topless – when Mr Graham spotted her stripping down to a bikini made up of red handkerchiefs.
The furious farmer, who asked for filming to be halted, defended his actions yesterday, saying Rihanna’s behaviour was ‘inappropriate’.
Mr Graham had agreed for one of his fields in Bangor, County Down, to be used for recording but was not aware what the production team had in mind for the star.
The father-of-four, a member the Democratic Unionist Party on North Down Borough Council, said: ‘I had never heard of Rihanna until someone called me requesting the use of my land. I knew on Monday who she was.
‘Someone explained she was as big as it gets as far as pop stars were concerned. I am a bit illiterate about those issues.
‘I realised things had got to a stage which was not acceptable to me. Things became inappropriate and I asked the film crew to stop.
‘If someone wants to borrow my field and things become inappropriate, then I say, “Enough is enough. You are not entitled to do that”. She understood where I was coming from. We shook hands and parted company on good terms.’
Mr Graham, who owns 60 acres at Clandeboye outside Bangor, said: ‘There was no firm arrangement about borrowing the field.
‘Everything that was going to take place was not made clear to me.
‘To be fair to the people involved in asking for the field, I don’t think they were aware either of what would take place.
‘I have not received any payment at this moment in time and I don’t know if I will be paid.’
Rihanna will play three sell-out shows at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena this weekend.
It is not the first time the Grammy award-winning singer, whose hit singles include Rude Boy and S&M, has caused offence with her provocative outfits.
Her pre-watershed performance on last year’s X Factor final, which was watched live by more than a million young children, was flooded with complaints from shocked viewers.
The scenes, also featuring singer Christina Aguilera and her backing dancers in an even racier routine, also saw 2,868 complaints made to media regulator Ofcom.
When asked if he would be taking the complaints into consideration for the series this year, X Factor supremo Simon Cowell said: ‘I think based on the reaction we’d have to tone it down a bit.’
Ofcom said: ‘We have been holding talks over the summer ramming home the point that we don’t want to see things like this again.
‘We want to make sure that during family primetime shows, people are very much in safe territory and sticking to the rules.’
Last week Rihanna posted a series of messages about her new song on Twitter to nearly 8 million followers before the track was given its first airplay on Thursday.
She Tweeted: ‘Btw I just HAVE to say a special Thank You for aaalllll the #MAJAH support on my first single WE FOUND LOVE!!!Hear it on iTunes if u haven’t.’
The song takes on a dance direction and follows a house riff that slowly builds up before the heavy beat drops.
The title, We Found Love, began trending on Twitter after Def Jam began a massive online campaign over two weeks ago.
by Milo Johnson
