Justin Bieber urged to cancel F1 show in Saudi Arabia
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Pop star Justin Bieber is facing growing calls to cancel his concert in Saudi Arabia next month as the fiancee of slain Saudi critic, Jamal Khashoggi joined a chorus of voices on Sunday urging him not to perform at the kingdom’s Formula One race.
Bieber’s concert is the most headline-grabbing performance scheduled for the race in Jiddah, though other F1 concert performers include rapper A$AP Rocky, DJs David Guetta and Tiesto and singer Jason Derulo.
In an open letter published by The Washington Post, Hatice Cengiz urged the Canadian megastar to cancel his December 5 performance in the Red Sea city of Jiddah to “send a powerful message to the world that your name and talent will not be used to restore the reputation of a regime that kills its critics.”
Khashoggi’s stunning killing in 2018 was carried out by members of a team of 15 Saudi government agents who’d been sent to Istanbul, where the writer and former government spokesman had an appointment at the Saudi consulate for documents needed to marry Cengiz. She waited from him outside the consulate, but he never walked out. His body was never found.
Bieber’s concert in Saudi Arabia comes shortly before he opens a world tour in February that was rescheduled from 2020 due to the pandemic.
Human Rights Watch has also called on Bieber and the other performers to pull out of the F1 concerts in Saudi Arabia, saying these events are aimed at “sportwashing” by diverting attention and deflecting scrutiny from Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
It is not the first time a pop star has faced pressure to pull out of a concert in Saudi Arabia. Mariah Carey was the biggest-name performer to hit the stage in Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi’s killing by Saudi agents in Turkey in October 2018. She brushed off calls to boycott the show.
In 2019, public pressure prompted Nicki Minaj to cancel her appearance on stage at a concert in Jiddah, telling The Associated Press at the time, she wanted to show support for women’s rights, gay rights and freedom of expression.