Dua Lipa denies firing agent for attempting to remove Kneecap from Glastonbury line-up
Dua Lipa has denied claims that she fired her agent after he allegedly attempted to have Kneecap removed from the Glastonbury line-up in June.
According to a report in The Mail on Sunday, the pop singer allegedly parted ways with her manager, David Levy, after it was claimed that he was involved in a campaign to remove the Irish rap trio from the bill at Worthy Farm over their pro-Palestine stance, which Lipa later denied.
A source told the newspaper: “Dua made sure through her people that David Levy wasn’t working on her music any more. She is very openly pro-Palestine, and that doesn’t align with David.”
They added: “She views him as being a supporter of Israel’s war in Gaza, and the terrible treatment of the Palestinians and that was made very clear through the letter that he signed and sent to Michael Eavis.”
However, on September 23rd, Lipa denied this on Instagram Stories, writing, “I do not condone the actions of David Levy or other music executives toward an artist speaking their truth. 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.”
She continued, “It is always Free Palestine but exploiting a global tragedy in order to sell newspapers is something I find deeply troubling.”
Additionally, her agency, WME, clarified the situation to NME, explaining, “Reports suggesting that Dua Lipa or her management dismissed one of our agents because of his political views are categorically false. David Levy played a role in Dua’s early career (2016-2019) and as is customary, is credited both internally and in industry journals as being a member of the team.”
WME continued: “When he moved out of London in 2019, he transitioned into an advisory role and has not been involved in Dua’s day-to-day business since. Levy fully removed himself from the project among others earlier this year.”
The claims about Levy’s alleged involvement in a bid to remove Kneecap’s from the festival come after DJ and music producer Toddla T revealed in early June, prior to Glastonbury, that a private letter from “a very systematically powerful music agent” was sent to festival organisers, urging them to remove Kneecap from the line-up after band member Mo Chara was charged with a terror offence in May. He is set to appear in court next on September 26th.
At the time, Toddla T wrote on Instagram that the letter was “signed by 30 individuals from within the music industry” and was a “coordinated attempt by 30 members of the musical elite, people with systemic influence, to silence the voices of three working-class artists from Belfast. All of it was done behind closed doors.”
Ultimately, the group’s attempt to remove Kneecap from the bill was unsuccessful, as they still played their set at Glastonbury on June 28th this year.
CLARIFICATION: This article was originally published on September 22nd before being updated on September 24th after Dua Lipa and WME denied the claims made by the Daily Mail.
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