Rita Ora celebrated her 30th birthday with a COVID-19-guideline-breaking bash, and now the celebratory event is turning into a PR nightmare. The singer has apparently dropped her followers by the thousands following the news, with as many as 220,000 Instagram followers leaving her feed behind. The singer’s fans were furious and filled her comments by calling her out for her complete disregard of the pandemic.
In November 2020, the Ora threw her illegal party in London at the Casa Cruz restaurant despite England’s strict lockdown guidelines.
Her violation has resulted in a court hearing where officials revealed that she, or her team, offered the restaurant manager £5,000, which is about $7,000 U.S. dollars, to hold the illegal party. The manager of the restaurant, who was struggling after staff had been furloughed, agreed to deal for the sake of the money. The restaurant manager has since then been fired.
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According to the manager’s statement, only seven guests were supposed to attend the birthday bash, but about twenty people showed up creating complications for both parties, literally. Rita Ora issued an apology via Instagram once the story reached the public, saying she "realizes how irresponsible these actions were" and she "takes full responsibility."
Rita Ora was forced to pay a $12,000 fine for her offense, and the court hearing is supposed to decide the fate of Casa Cruz’s restaurant.