Dua Lipa addressed recent rumors that she might be performing at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar later this month on Instagram.
“I will not be performing and nor have I ever been involved in any negotiations to perform. I will be cheering England on from afar,” she wrote. “I look forward to visiting Qatar when it has fulfilled all the human rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup.”
Lipa’s position shouldn’t come as a surprise given the host nation’s dubious history with homosexual rights and its treatment of the construction workers who built several of the stadiums that will hold events.
More than 6,500 migrant laborers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have reportedly passed away in Qatar since it was awarded the 2022 World Cup, most likely while working on tournament-related projects, according to an article in The Guardian dated February 2021. Additionally, under Qatari law, engaging in sexual activity with another man might result in a seven-year prison term, as per sharia law, “homosexuality is punishable by death.”
According to an another report, English supporters who are discovered with drugs in the Al Bayt Stadium could be executed. The Athletic noted that there are legitimate worries that female World Cup attendees could suffer consequences if they come out with allegations of sexual assault.