Rita Ora flew to Cairo before her 30-person birthday party and didn’t quarantine

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Last week we heard that Rita Ora had been fined around $12,000 by the British government for throwing herself a birthday party with 30-something people at a London restaurant, violating gathering rules. What’s more is that Rita posted photos to her Instagram making it seem like she’d celebrated by herself, showing only solo photos and writing “it felt weird not doing anything for my bday so being me I dressed up and ate cake… I’m going to finish the rest of my cake for breakfast lunch and dinner.” When she got found out Rita issued an apology where she claimed the big party at a venue and custom cake were “spur of the moment.” It turns out that it’s even worse for Rita. She had flown to Egypt to perform at an event at a hotel in Cairo about a week before that. Under British law she was supposed to self-quarantine for 14 days, but seven days later she had that big party! Just like when Rita got found out for the party, she issued an apology for her performance and said she would donate the

Rita Ora… flew by private jet to Cairo on November 21 to perform at the five-star W Hotel. She returned the next day and under Government quarantine rules should have self-isolated for 14 days.

Instead, she threw a birthday party on November 28 at the exclusive Casa Cruz restaurant in Notting Hill, West London.

While the singer said she was ‘deeply sorry’ for her actions and offered to pay a £10,000 fine for hosting the party, she did not mention her trip to Egypt or breaking a second set of strict rules.

According to a source, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi [sic] was among those at the party at the W Hotel, possibly to celebrate his 66th birthday which was two days earlier. A spokesman for the singer said she had been hired by the W Hotel and had neither met nor been aware of the presence of Mr Sisi. The Egyptian Government did not respond to a request for comment.

Photographs of her performance at the W Hotel show Ms Ora belting out hits dressed in a black dress, stockings and suspenders. The singer, who is openly bisexual, also wore rainbow hair extensions, possibly as a sign of support for the LGBT community… [Ed note: Egypt has strict anti-gay laws enacted by their President, whom Rita performed for]

Ms Ora’s fee, paid by the W Hotel, included her ‘business expenses’ and the £40-£50,000 cost of the 7,000-mile round trip flight. The hotel recently launched their new venue in Cairo.

In addition to her apology, Ms Ora last night said she would donate any profit from the engagement to charity. In a statement, she told the MoS: ‘I recently flew to Egypt to perform at a corporate event for a private company, where my travel party followed protocol and presented negative Covid tests upon entry, as required by Egyptian authorities. Upon my return to Britain, I should have followed Government advice and isolated myself for the required period. As you know, I didn’t follow Government advice and… I apologise again, unreservedly.

‘While I realise the apologetic words of a pop star might not carry much weight, especially one who has broken the rules like I have, I do realise some might seek to follow my example. My message to them is simple: please don’t. The guilt and shame I’ve carried this week for my mistake aren’t worth it. Instead, continue to listen to the Government advice and the voices of the heroes of the NHS and take the required precautions.’

She added: ‘I hope to one day make it up to the public who have given me so much support over the years and, in particular, make it up to the heroes of the NHS…In the meantime, I will be donating my fee from Egypt to charity. Be better than I have been and learn from my mistakes so you don’t have to learn the hard way yourselves.’

[From The Daily Mail]

First of all, who is paying Rita Ora over $60k to perform for them? Can you name one song of hers? Second, I don’t buy that she didn’t know she was performing for the Egyptian president, whose name is Abdel Fattah el-Sisi according to my extensive Wiki research (The DM called him Abdul) and has a horrible record of human rights abuses. Yet again Rita got busted and is only apologizing because she got found out. At least the UK names, shames and fines people who violate quarantine rules. In the US they’re only “guidelines” and no one is doing jack sh-t about it except at the state level.

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20 Responses to “Rita Ora flew to Cairo before her 30-person birthday party and didn’t quarantine”

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  1. Swack says:

    Yep, she’s only sorry she got caught. $12,000, for most celebrities, is a drop in the bucket for them and will not deter them from continuing their bad behaviour.

  2. February-Pisces says:

    I’ll never understand how Rita Ora has managed to get a hell of a lot of mileage out of a pretty mediocre career. She’s had a couple of Ok songs, nothing that memorable and she’s at every A-list event acting list she best friends with people who are way more famous that her. What’s that all about?

    • Tom says:

      She also has a collaboration with Adidas.

    • TQ says:

      Yep. I agree. I’d never given her much thought when I was in the US, but she’s pretty big here in the UK and gets loads of radio play, ads, etc. Go figure.

    • Yup, Me says:

      I think it’s because she looks like someone you SHOULD know (even though don’t). She has a “hey THAT chick!” face/style, which is enough to pass for celebrity in this day and age.

      I couldn’t name one song she’s done, though, which doesn’t say much for the future longevity of her career.

    • Jo73c says:

      Who would even care what she was doing if she wasn’t getting air for breaking the rules?

  3. HK9 says:

    And this is why we can’t have nice things.

  4. grabbyhands says:

    “First of all, who is paying Rita Ora over $60k to perform for them?“

    THANK YOU. I was like, who was willing to shell out almost 100K for her?

  5. SarahTyler says:

    The guilt and shame aren’t worth it? No mention of the lives carelessly risked for her vanity. Her actions and statement are gross.

  6. OriginalLala says:

    Can this be the year we say FUCK *ff to selfish, useless celeb worship??????

  7. Dana says:

    Social Media has allowed people who would have faded into obscurity rather quickly to stay relevant far longer than they should have.

  8. Chilicat says:

    The thing that baffles me is that her mum is a nurse for the NHS, So she will know exactly how tough things are over here., yet that didn’t even cross her mind. People here are still dying every day. It just shows you how self absorbed she is. Completely self centered, which I always had a feeling she was.

  9. Annaloo. says:

    Cow.

  10. Lady Keller says:

    I hope she gets covid and her teeth fall out. She’s only sorry she got caught. I’m so sick of the double standards that money buys.

    We would all love our old lives back but there is no way that happens when people like her are refusing to comply. I wish they had fined her 10x that amount.

  11. Watson says:

    Rita Ora never ceases to amaze me for getting so much press and not having the songs to show for it. Her PR person must be a wizard!

    Also: she is clearly an idiot. If her mum is a nurse she doesn’t give a f*ck about her or her job, or potentially spreading covid around the world. It sounds terrible but if she got covid. I wouldn’t feel sorry for her.

  12. Jessica says:

    I live in Egypt. She fucking sucks for all of this, and is complete trash. At first I couldn’t believe someone would pay that much for…her, but then when I saw who she was performing for, I understood why they could only get a discount bargain bin great value clearance rack “pop star”. Even Nicki Minaj said “no” to performing for Mohammed Bin Salman, because she didn’t want that smoke. Gross in every way. (Beyoncé did perform for Muammar Qadhafi or his son back in the day, and ended up giving the money to charity or something when the smoke got to to be too much.)

  13. mar says:

    What does she do again? She’s like LL, always traveling and dressing high end but what exactly dos she do for a living? Put out a song ever few years?

  14. detritus says:

    Why is she performing for a man who sanctions chastity and virginity testing of women?

    Who has allowed women who have been raped to be charged and jailed for ‘lewdness’

    How dare she wear that dress and flout safety rules when the women of Egypt must be covered at all time or face jail or worse.

    Celebs need to be called out much more for supporting these horrible leaders.

    And that fine? That 10k? In Cairo most people are destitute. 10k would go so far for many of them, a life changing amount.

    Ugh. This whole story. Ora is done for me.

  15. lucy2 says:

    “Ms Ora belting out hits” She has hits? I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a song of hers. She mostly seems famous for being famous.

    This whole thing is just disgusting. Everything she did, the Egypt performance, the party, all of it.

  16. Nibbi says:

    I get that cancel culture is problematic…

    But eh, in her case I don’t give AF. I feel like it’s okay that people be admonished & have to live with the consequences of being selfish, irresponsible, moronic assholes who put the actual lives of others at risk (bc that is straight-up what behaviors like hers does right now). What’s more, she lied about it not once but twice. Entitled much?