Despite persistent criticism, pop star Robbie Williams (48) will perform inQatar tonight. With British footballers Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire athis side, he invites fans to his concert, for which he will undoubtedlyreceive a lot of money. “It would be hypocritical not to go,” he said earlier.
The artist treated the players from his home country, who will play againstFrance in the quarterfinals on Saturday, to a private concert last night,writes The Telegraph. “I’m Robbie Williams and I’m here in the England campwith the boys, how lucky am I?” says the singer from Qatar in a video for his2.5 million followers on Instagram. “Come and see me tonight at the golf clubin Doha, you know what to do.”
Many Robbie fans know what to do. Cancel, they say. While most fans are happywhen their idol shares a new video, the reactions are striking from people whosay they are disappointed. The artist has been receiving such criticism forsome time.
Colleague Rod Stewart said he refused an offer of more than $ 1 million tosing in Qatar because of the country’s treatment of human rights, LGBTI peopleand migrant workers. “I said no. It’s not right to go,” he said. Robbie thinksotherwise.
Read on under Robbie ‘s video
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“I do not condone any violation of human rights anywhere,” he explained IlVenerdi. “However, having said that, if we don’t condone human rightsviolations anywhere in the world, it will be the shortest tour ever. Icouldn’t even perform in my own kitchen.”
Williams wants to say: the West measures Qatar as if everything is 100 percentright here. “Do as we do, or we will cut you off from society. Do as we do,because we know how to do it”, he summarizes. In that light, he thinks it’s’hypocritical’ not to go, given the places he does visit and which no onefalls over.
“There is a microscope on it and the thought is: these are the bad guys and wehave to resist them. The hypocritical thing is, if we say that about thiscase, we should apply it to the whole world. If we do that, no one will beable to go anywhere.”
Quote >>> I think change will take a long time>> Robby Williams
Human rights organization Amnesty International hopes that Williams will usehis podium to discuss the abuses in Qatar. It is still unclear whether hewill, but he said in the interview: ,,I think change will take a long time.”
Robbie was still under fire in 2018 because he performed at the opening of theWorld Cup in Russia. In doing so, he sold his soul to ‘dictator’ VladimirPutin, critics said. Former footballer David Beckham has recently beencriticized for being an ambassador for the current World Cup. He has fallenoff his pedestal as an LGBTI icon, according to a gay magazine Attitude.Williams is by no means the only internationally known star to perform inQatar, The Black Eyes Peas and J. Balvin have also performed on stage. DuaLipa just let it be known that she did not want to go.
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