CALIFORNIA - Pop star Dua Lipa has denied media reports that she fired one of her agents, after he tried to stop the Irish band Kneecap performing at Glastonbury.
The Mail Online claimed that Lipa had parted ways with David Levy for signing a letter urging festival organiser Emily Eavis to drop the rap group over their pro-Palestinian views. Both Lipa and her talent agency WME have called the story "categorically false", saying that Levy stopped working with the star in 2019.
In a statement, Lipa criticised Levy's attempt to silence Kneecap, but said the Mail's "deliberately inflammatory" story had been "crafted... to fuel online division". "I do not condone the actions of David Levy or other music executives toward an artist speaking their truth," she wrote on her Instagram story. "I also cannot ignore how this has been handled in the press. Not only was the story completely false but the language used by the Daily Mail has been deliberately inflammatory, crafted purely for clickbait, clearly designed to fuel online division. "It is always Free Palestine," she added, "but exploiting a global tragedy in order to sell newspapers is something I find deeply troubling."
In a separate statement, WME told the BBC: "Reports suggesting that Dua Lipa or her management dismissed one of our agents because of his political views are categorically false". Acknowledging that Levy had played a role in Lipa's "early career", it said that he had remained part of her team "in an advisory role" until "earlier this year" when he moved to other projects. The Mail has since updated its story to reflect those statements, while also correcting an earlier error that claimed Levy was Lipa's manager. The singer's father, Dukagjin Lipa, has been her manager since 2022.
Dua Lipa has also made her views on the conflict in Gaza public, and had repeatedly called for a "humanitarian cease-fire". In May this year, she condemned Israeli air-strikes on displacement camps in Southern Gaza. "Burning children alive can never be justified," she wrote on Instagram. "The whole world is mobilising to stop the Israeli genocide. Please show your solidarity with Gaza." Later that month, she joined stars such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Gary Lineker, Amelia Dimoldenberg and Riz Ahmed in demanding that the UK stop selling arms to Israel. (BBC/Getty Images