"I would have been offered it a week ago, the case would have been different": Gims justifies his presence in Qatar

Solène Delinger 3:28 p.m., November 30, 2022

Gims will be fine in Qatar.

The interpreter of

will sing at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Football World Cup. Invited to France Inter on Wednesday November 30, the singer explained why he did not boycott the World Cup. 

"I was offered the contract more than two years ago"

“This contract, I was offered it a little over two years ago, in a special setting, the famous confinement. We are deprived of freedom, we are not well, many people are in depression, the world is on hold”, he justified himself.

"We're talking about the World Cup, singing in front of billions (of people). We're in a special setting, a setting where you can't refuse," he continues.

“It feels like I accepted the thing the day before yesterday”

At the time, there was no controversy around the organization of the sporting event, according to Gims.

In recent months, calls for a boycott of the World Cup have multiplied because of the working conditions of migrant workers employed by Doha to build stadiums.

I "there are great artists who refused, there are mega artists who accepted", underlines Gims.

“Today we have controversies about everything that is said around Qatar, things that are certainly true, which concern human rights. We have the impression that I accepted the thing the day before yesterday ( …) It would have happened a week ago the case would have been totally different but it is not the case”. 

Several artists refused to go to Qatar, notably Dua Lipa, who very quickly denied the rumors surrounding her participation in the opening ceremony, pointing out the lack of respect for human rights in Qatar.

Shakira, too, would have declined the invitation.