Akon ‘doesn’t understand’ boycott against Qatar World Cup as he claims country just has ‘different culture’-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro

The Lonely singer believes we need to stop ‘jumping to conclusions’ (Picture: Dave Simpson/WireImage)

Several celebrities have been very vocal with their criticism of Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup – but Akon doesn’t get it.

The Arab host country has been heavily criticised for its human rights issues, with homosexuality being illegal and a severe lack of protections for women.

As a result, big names such as David Beckham, the country’s ambassador, have been called out, with football fans demanding they cut ties.

However, Senegalese-American singer Akon says the backlash doesn’t make sense.

A big football fan himself, Akon stopped to talk about the World Cup with TMZ Sports at LAX on Wednesday, four days before the World Cup kick off.

When asked about fans boycotting because of the controversy, he replied: ‘I don’t understand the purpose of the boycott, me personally, I think everywhere you go in the world there’s different cultures, different way of living, different life standards.’

Akon ‘doesn’t understand’ why people are boycotting the World Cup (Picture: WireImage)

Akon – real name Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam – continued: ‘I think when you look at a place like America, we have a tendency of taking certain things for granted, and we got a tendency of following suit of things we don’t understand.

‘Instead of taking a trip there to understand the culture, understand what’s going on, you’re just going to follow suit cause everybody else says there’s humanitarian issues.’

The Lonely hitmaker explained that he’s not necessarily agreeing with Qatar’s stance when it comes to human rights, but merely wants to recognise a difference in their way of life.

Dua Lipa previously called out the host country’s human rights issues (Picture: Mauricio Santana/Getty Images)

‘I think a lot of that is a cultural issue, a cultural difference. You know when you look at a place like Africa, Middle East, a lot of places, LGBTQ+ is not really a culture they came up under,’ he added.

‘It’s not a matter of dislike. It’s just a different culture, know what I’m saying? It’s just a matter of people better understanding each other’s culture, understanding the reasons and the whys.’

He also feels it’s important to talk to Qatari people to ask them to ‘better understand’ because ‘life is about communication’.

Robbie Williams passionately defended his decision to perform in Qatar (Picture: Stuart Westwood/Shutterstock)

He says we should ‘explain’ our views from our different positions rather than ‘jumping to conclusions’.

‘I think the moment people start jumping to conclusions and just take a position before understanding, things are always gonna be complicated.’

Akon is part of a minority, however, with the likes of Dua Lipa recently denying reports that she’s heading to Qatar to perform at the World Cup opening ceremony.

Qatar ambassador David Beckham has massively come under fire for being the face of the event (Picture: Backgrid)

The One Kiss hitmaker said she won’t be flying to the host country until its human rights improve.

Likewise, Sir Rod Stewart revealed he was offered $1million last year to play in Qatar, but it didn’t feel ‘right’, so he turned the opportunity down.

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One person who will be performing, however, is Robbie Williams, who has passionately defended his decision.

He claims it would be ‘hypocritical’ of him not to go, despite performing in questionable locations in the past.

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