Dukagjin Lipa was apparently in talks with the event's organizing body, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, about his plans to help organize the world's biggest soccer tournament's opening ceremony.
- Dec 5, 2022
AceShowbiz - * Did Dua Lipa's father offer "support" to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where same-sex relationship could result in death penalty, without her knowledge? According to reports, Dukagjin Lipa was in talks with the organizers ahead of the world's biggest tournament despite his daughter being an LGBTQ ally.
Emails obtained by Daily Mail on Sunday, December 4, revealed that Dukagjin first reached out to Qatar's World Cup organizing body, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, in 2020. Dugi, who represents his pro-LGBTQ daughter, was seemingly "keen" to liaise between organizers and musicians and the Grammy-winning musician had no idea about it.
"I represent my daughter, the artist Dua Lipa, and I am keen to discuss with the Supreme Committee plans for artist performances for Qatar World Cup 2022," the 53-year-old, supposedly wrote via email in March 2020. He then boasted about the success of one of Dua's live stream events and talked about his connections with other chart-topping artists such as Calvin Harris, Miley Cyrus, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.
In another email sent in January 2021, Dugi reportedly wrote, "I just wanted to follow up on my previous email and was wondering whether it would be possible for us to discuss any opportunity arising where we can be of help?" The Kosovo-born dad, who runs communications agency Republika, continued, "We recently streamed a live performance of tracks from Dua's new album as well as appearances by other artists which had five million viewers, which was the largest ever globally for a live-stream event."
It's unveiled that a committee member replied, "It is fantastic to hear from you and know that with Dua being put forward it is backed by the knowledge that she is also interested." However, in April last year, Dugi seemingly had anxieties surrounding the gig, reportedly saying, "I was approached… with a specific request for Dua Lipa and the opening ceremony and I wanted to touch base with you regarding this and making sure that we are not talking to the wrong person."
Prior to the leaked emails, Dua had cleared up speculations that she'd perform at the World Cup. In November, Dua wrote via Instagram Story that she's never been involved in any discussions about performing.
"There is currently a lot of speculation that I will be performing at the opening ceremony of the world cup in Qatar," the "Levitating" hitmaker began. "I will not be performing and nor have I ever been involved in any negotiation to perform. I will be cheering England on from afar and 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."
Speaking to Variety earlier this month, Dua said that "the World Cup is a really unique opportunity to hold Qatar to account." The 27-year-old star later explained, "They made pledges on human rights when they signed the deal for the World Cup that have not been satisfactorily met on migrant workers' rights, women's rights, LGBTQ rights and freedom of expression - what kind of message does it send if these pledges mean nothing?"
"I really have nothing against Qatar, and I hope one day I will get the chance to go there," Dua continued. She went on to stress, "But I didn't like being amongst speculation that I was going to perform for something that really goes against my beliefs."
*UPDATE (Dec. 05): In a newly released statement, Dugi confirmed that in 2020, he "had several email exchanges with the Qatari World Cup marketing team in my personal capacity as a festival organiser." He further stressed that "Dua was not involved or aware of those exchanges or any other conversations."
"When I introduced myself, I gave them my full background which included my representation of Dua," Dugi explained, "But I clarified that I was not speaking to them with her in mind and made that very clear when they asked me whether my enquiries were about Dua."
Dugi went on stating, "This was in early 2021, at a time when Qatar had made several pledges (since winning the World Cup contract) to reform their labour laws and make amends to their human rights record." He continued, "As the conversation went on and the World Cup got closer, it became very clear that these pledges were not going to be honoured."
Dugi also noted that he had "stopped talking to them." Concluding his statement, he said, "Since then I have been approached by several people connected with the Qatar World Cup to whom I made very clear that Dua would NOT be involved."
