Katy Perry Unwittingly Sparks Political Scandal in Taiwan

Katy Perry has found herself in the midst of an intense political controversy in Taiwan.

During her concert in Taipei on Tuesday, Perry wore a sequined dress embellished with sunflowers, surrounded by backup dancers in sunflower skirts and oversized fake sunflowers. And though Perry has worn the costume before, E! News reports that many took Perry's sunflower motif as a pro-Taiwanese statement.

The timing of Perry's concert didn't help. Her concert came only a few weeks after the one-year anniversary of Taiwan's Sunflower Student Movement, which protested a trade agreement that many Taiwanese people believed gave Beijing too much economic influence. The sunflower became the symbol of the movement, so it's not a stretch to see why many took Perry's dress as a major political statement.

This season's biggest MVPs

Though it's unlikely Perry meant anything by the sunflower motif, many people in mainland China are very upset over the apparent slight from the singer, who they have nicknamed Fruit Sister.

"I'm speechless over Fruit Sister," one person posted on a Chinese message board. "I suppose she has no chance to come to the mainland anymore, though she might not care. These performers who intervene in other countries' politics are the most annoying."

However, there are those who see Perry for who she is: the farthest thing from a political revolutionary.