Superstar Dua Lipa shut down rumors speculating that she would be performing at the opening ceremony at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, as she called out the country’s “human rights” violations.
The 27-year-old singer shared a message on her Instagram Story on Sunday that she’s going to cheer on her England team from afar and will not be traveling to the Muslim country that’s hosting the world soccer tournament, Entertainment Weekly reported in a piece published Sunday.
“There is currently a lot of speculation that I will be performing at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar,” Lipa shared in a message on her social media account.
“I will not be performing and nor have I ever been involved in any negotiations to perform,” she added.
Dua Lipa clears rumors about performing at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar.
‘I will not be performing & nor have I ever been involved in any negotiation to perform […] I look forward to visiting Qatar when it has fullfilled all the human rights pledges it made’ pic.twitter.com/Ca7DA9H1bC
— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 13, 2022
“I will be cheering England on from afar and I looked forward to visiting Qatar when it has fulfilled all of its human rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup,” the English singer continued.
The manager for Lipa’s home team, Gareth Southgate, previously said, “We have always spoken about issues we think should be talked about, particularly the ones we feel we can affect.”
“Contrary to one or two observations in the last few weeks, we have spoken in the same way other nations have spoken about this tournament, the human rights challenges,” Southgate added. “We’ve been very clear on our standpoint on that.”
Qatar has been called out for human rights violations and its stance on gay people, where it remains illegal to be homosexual. As recently as this month, the Qatar World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman called homosexuality “damage in the mind,” the Associated Press reported.
“During the World Cup, many things will come here to the country. Let’s talk about gays,” Salman added in English, which is simultaneously dubbed into German in the TV segment. “The most important thing is, everybody will accept that they come here. But they will have to accept our rules.”
Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser, who’s in charge of sports, said that Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdul Aziz Al Thani gave her a “safety guarantee” for fans “no matter where they come from, whom they love and what they believe in.”