News from the Akon dirty dancing front: now he apologizes, and really hopes this thing doesn’t shred his career apart:

“It was never my intention to embarrass or take advantage of my fans in any way, especially those under the age of 18. That is why we tried to make sure that the club did not admit anyone under 18 in the audience,” he said. “Somehow, that standard was not met.”

New York Times published a great commentary about the case, pointing to the fact that Verizon and other big corpos are sponsoring many acts with raunchy deeds in their pasts. So why Akon? Why now?

“Many music fans know that Pete Wentz, the bassist for the rock band Fall Out Boy, found himself overexposed last year when sexually explicit pictures of him surfaced on the Internet. Many also know that Keith Urban, the country superstar, recently endured a stint in rehab. Despite the bad publicity, both acts have received a marketing push from Verizon, through promotions as “featured” artists on its mobile network or elsewhere.”

Here’s a link to the article. And here’s a link to the previous post about Akon and his hump dance in Trinidad, complete with the video of the event.