Rod Stewart has revealed that he turned down a “very lucrative” offer to perform in Saudi Arabia.
He explained the reason in a post published on his Instagram profile yesterday, where he wrote: “I am grateful to be able to choose whether to perform in Saudi Arabia or not. Many there have extremely limited choices: women, the LGBTQ+ community, the press.” He added, “I hope my choice not to go sheds light on the injustices in that country and triggers positive change.”
In 2021, the British singer-songwriter, who will perform at the Lucca Summer Festival next summer, had already declined a million-dollar offer to perform in Qatar, again due to the long history of human rights violations in the Arab country, including the exploitation of workers, a problem that emerged during the construction of stadiums for the 2022 World Cup.