Leaked emails show how Dua Lipa’s father communicated with the Qataris for two years in an effort to fix her a spot on the World Cup performers list.
Dua Lipa’s father was reportedly in talks with the Supreme Committee in Qatar to secure a performance during the World Cup despite the singer vehemently denying she had any plans to perform in the country.
Leaked emails obtained by the Mail show her father, Dukagjin Lipa, communicated with the Qataris for two years in an effort to fix her a spot on the bill, with reports saying the first such contact was made in 2020.
Last year, Dua Lipa shut down rumours of a performance at the world’s biggest sporting event.
On a post shared on Instagram, the pop star said she was never scheduled to perform and that there were never even any preliminary discussions.
“There is currently a lot of speculation that I will be performing at the opening ceremony of the world cup in Qatar. I will not be performing and nor have I ever been involved in any negotiation to perform,” she wrote. “I will be cheering England on from afar.”
Since then, Dugi has come forward to reiterate that his daughter was unaware of his communications with Qatari organisers and to clarify the details of his withdrawal.
“In my personal capacity as a festival organiser in 2020, I had several email exchanges with the Qatari World Cup marketing team,” he claimed.
The email tracks
The 53-year-old, who went by the name of Dugi, seemed “keen” to set up a conversation about his Grammy-winning daughter.
“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,” he reportedly wrote in an email in March 2020.
“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” he said in a second email sent in January 2021.
“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 global for a live-stream event,” said Dugi, the owner of the communications firm Republika.
One committee member allegedly responded, “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.”
In April 2021, he sent an email in which he said he “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.”
In a statement to Doha News, Dugi said his email exchanges with the Qatari World Cup marketing team was in “personal capacity as a festival organiser.”
“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. 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,” the statement said.
