Colombian pop star Maluma walked out of an interview Sunday after being pressed on his decision to be part of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Maluma, who performed at the Fan Festival, appears with Nicki Minaj and Miriam Fares on “Tukoh Take,” described as the official anthem of the tournament (for the first time since 1990, there is no official song).
Asked if he has problems with human rights violations in the host country, the singer replied: “Yeah, but it’s something I can’t resolve. I just came here to enjoy life, enjoy soccer, the party of soccer.
“It’s not actually something that I have to be involved with. I’m here enjoying my music and the beautiful life, playing soccer too.”
Asked if he understands claims that he is “whitewashing” Qatar’s record of human rights abuses, Maluma became agitated. “Do I have to answer that question?” A publicist off camera shut down the interview.
Maluma put his microphone down and chastised the interviewer. “You don’t do that. You’re rude.”
Other artists have been reluctant to align themselves with the FIFA World Cup this year.
Dua Lipa took to social media to deny reports that she was part of the line-up of performers at the opening ceremony. “I will not be performing and nor have I ever been involved in any negotiation to perform,” the pop star wrote in an Instagram Story. “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.”
Spain’s Marca reported last week that Shakira dropped out, even though there was never confirmation that she was scheduled to perform. The singer has not commented on social media.
(Contrary to reports, Rod Stewart was never part of the opening ceremony – he has said that he turned down a lucrative offer to perform in Qatar more than a year ago.)
BTS member Jung Kook performed during Sunday's opening ceremony with Qatari star Fahad Al-Kubaisi.
In an interview with Italian magazine il Venerdì, British pop star Robbie Williams defended his decision to perform in Qatar on Dec. 8.
“Anybody leaving messages saying 'no to Qatar' are doing so on Chinese technology,” he said. “You get this microscope that goes 'okay, these are the baddies, and we need to rally against them'... I think that the hypocrisy there is that if we take that case in this place, we need to apply that unilaterally to the world. Then if we apply that unilaterally to the world, nobody can go anywhere.”
Williams said “it would be hypocritical of me to not go to Qatar because of the places that I do go to” and said change will take a long time.
“What we're saying is: 'You behave like us, or we will annex you from society. Behave like us, because we've got it right.’ Of course, I don't condone any abuses of human rights anywhere.”