Civil rights leaders are protesting her website that greets visitors with report of fake murder

Ashanti has come under fire from civil rights leaders after launching a promotional website that greets visitors with a news report about a fake murder spree.

Dozens of concerned parents and religious heads gathered outside the Los Angeles offices of her record label Universal/ Motown on Tuesday to protest the controversial site and demand it be taken down.

The site’s news report — which users can personalise by selecting a “weapon of choice” and “victim” — claims to be linked to Ashanti’s revenge-themed music video for new single The Way That I Love You, in which the singer plays a woman who stabs her cheating boyfriend to death.

Najee Ali, head of Project Islamic Hope and one of the protest’s organisers, has branded the R&B singer’s promotional stunt a “career mistake”, insisting violence should never be used to settle disputes.

Ali tells Mtv.com, “There are a lot of outraged parents who feel that the type of message and imagery that promotes violence as a tool for solving domestic relation problems is inappropriate.

“Universal should recognise that they have corporate responsibility for promoting their artists and material that they want us to purchase.” But the star’s publicist Michelle Huff claims the video was intended to be a parody in the style of U.S. comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live.