Rita Ora’s songs have been banned by a radio host for breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules to celebrate her 30th birthday.
“Only Want You” singer, Rita Ora, has been facing major backlash from fans since throwing herself a 30th birthday party in London last weekend. According to Entertainment Tonight, 30 of Ora’s closest friends were in attendance, including Cara Delevingne, despite the UK being in mandatory lockdown.
After realizing she was in hot water after the secrecy of her party was compromised, Ora issued an apology via her Instagram story. While many of her fans have chosen to accept her apology, one Devon, England radio host was a tad less forgiving.
“Hello all, I attended a small gathering with some friends to celebrate my 30th birthday,” Ora wrote via Instagram. “It was a spur of the moment decision made with the misguided view that we were coming out of lockdown and this would be OK. I’m deeply sorry for breaking the rules and in turn understand that this puts people at risk. This was a serious and inexcusable error of judgement. Given the restrictions, I realise how irresponsible these actions were and I take full responsibility.”
“I feel particularly embarrassed knowing first-hand how hard people have worked to combat this terrible illness and being fully aware of the sacrifices that people and businesses have made to help keep us all safe,” she continued. “Even though this won’t make it right, I want to sincerely apologise.” On top of her apology, Ora voluntarily paid the £10,000 fine for her gathering.
On Tuesday, after playing her track “I Will Never Let You Down,” DJ Ben Clark announced to listeners that he would no longer be playing Ora’s songs on his station. “I can’t speak for any other Radio Exe presenter, but as of now, for the foreseeable future, I’m not playing any of her songs,” he said.
“You can’t get your head round it can you? The mind boggles,” he went on. “My 11-year-old daughter said to me the other night, ‘Dad, can one of my friends come round after school?’ ‘No! We’re in a lockdown!’ If an 11 year old can get her (head) round it then surely Rita can… If you’re a big Rita Ora fan I’m sure even you can see where I’m coming from.”
[via]