The PR team for singer Jennifer Lopez is working to contain the perception that she serenaded the repressive dictator of Turkmenistan with "Happy Birthday" at an oil company event in the Asian country June 29.

Turkmenistan
Berdymukhamedov and Lopez in a state TV production
Mark Young, who represents Lopez via Los Angeles PR firm The Fame Factory, is stressing that the global pop star appeared at the birthday party of Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as a paid appearance for the China National Petroleum Corporation. In a statement he said the birthday croon -- CNN reported she said, "We wish you the very, very, happiest birthday," to Berdymukhamedov, in addition to performing the song -- was a "last-minute 'birthday greeting' request" by the oil company.

"Had there been knowledge of human rights issues any kind, Jennifer would not have attended," Young said in a statement, adding it was a "private corporate event" not sponsored by the government.

Human Rights Watch, in its 2013 World Report, called Turkmenistan "one of the world's most repressive countries," noting Berdymukhamedov, and his relatives and associates, "enjoy unlimited power and total control over all aspects of public life…"

Andrew Stroehlein, European media director at Human Rights Watch, called Lopez' appearance a "moment of maximum shame" for the singer and mocked her publicist's claim that she wouldn't have done the gig if she knew of the country's spotty human rights record. "No Internet where she lives?" he tweeted.

Video of Lopez performing was included in a highlight reel of the birthday festivities produced by Turkmenistan state television.

Agence France Presse reported Lopez is believed to be the first major Western star to visit to former Soviet republic. It published a since-deleted tweet from one of Lopez' dancers: "I wonder were [sic] all my Turkmenistan followers are?! Hit me up!" Twitter is tightly controlled in the country.

Al Aribaya wondered if Lopez was "doing 'a Marilyn'" a la Marilyn Monroe's sultry serenade of President John F. Kennedy.

Lopez split with her long-time PR team at WPP's BWR PR -- Leslie Sloan Zelnick and Nanci Ryder -- 2010.