Shakira’s publicist will have you know that recent rumors Shakira would be teaming up with Arab-American singer Dania Youssef on a song about Islam are OMG so super untrue and also yuck. What a horrid idea! Almost as bad as Ricky Martin singing a song about sexy men in sailor hats:

Al-Arabiya reported that Shakira, who is of Lebanese and Colombian descent, is penning the English lyrics, while Egyptian composer Mohamed Saad is writing the Arabic portion of the song, as well as the music. The report said a U.S. director was expected to film a music video for the song.

Shakira’s publicist, Diana Baron, told UPI the report was incorrect.

“This report is a total fabrication in every respect,” she said.

There’s nothing wrong, of course, with calling a false report false. It’s a good thing for publicists to do! But calling this a “total” fabrication in “every respect” just… seems a little excessive. We wonder if her publicist would have issued such a strongly-worded, vehement denial is the rumor was that Shakira would be, we don’t know, singing a song to promote McDonald’s.

Lots of beautiful songs have been written about religion and, while it’s true that Islam has become a politically and socially loaded topic, the sheer force of this denial seems to imply that the idea that an artist would ever align herself with Islam in a positive way is both ludicrous and terrible. Not for its ability to sell records, but for the implication that there’s something inherently bad about celebrating Islam.

Publicist corrects Shakira report [UPI]