Dua Lipa denies dropping Jewish agent who urged Kneecap’s removal from Glastonbury

JTA — British pop singer Dua Lipa was reported Sunday to have dropped her Jewish agent for signing onto a letter to remove the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian Irish rap group Kneecap from the Glastonbury music festival.

The artist and her management dismissed the report as false on Tuesday.

The development comes as a growing number of musical acts are seeking to block streaming services from letting their songs play in Israel, in what they hope will turn into a music-industry cognate of the burgeoning Film Works for Palestine boycott of Israeli film institutions.

Dua Lipa’s longstanding agent, David Levy, was one of the first signatories on a leaked letter to Glastonbury’s organizers to remove Kneecap, whose singer is currently facing terrorism charges in the United Kingdom for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert.

The Grammy Award-winning performer will continue to be represented by her current talent agency, William Morris Endeavor, but with a different agent there, according to the Daily Mail.

“Dua made sure through her people that David Levy wasn’t working on her music anymore. She is very openly pro-Palestine and that doesn’t align with David,” a music industry source told The Mail on Sunday.

“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,” the source continued.

In an Instagram post, Dua Lipa called the report in the Daily Mail “completely false.” A separate statement by her management company, William Morris Endeavor, said that Levy had not been involved in managing the artist’s day-to-day activity since 2019.

“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,” Dua Lipa’s statement said.

“It is always Free Palestine but exploiting a global tragedy in order to sell newspapers is something I find deeply troubling,” she added.

WMA also called the report “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. 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,” it said.

Dua Lipa has long been critical of Israel, and in May was one of more than 300 celebrities who signed onto a letter to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging him to end the country’s “complicity” in Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, massacre and hostage-taking.

Several other British artists, including trip hop group Massive Attack, Bjork and Kneecap, have joined an initiative to block their music from being streamed in Israel.

“We’d appeal to all musicians to transfer their sadness, anger and artistic contributions into a coherent, reasonable and vital action to end the unspeakable hell being visited upon the Palestinians hour after hour,” Massive Attack wrote in an Instagram post Thursday.

Kneecap, meanwhile, has been banned from Canada over one of its member’s terrorism charges; it recently canceled a sold-out US tour.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.