Rita Ora is “deeply sorry” for having a birthday party in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown in London.
According to London’s lockdown guidelines, there are restrictions against gatherings of people outside of their household bubbles. Restaurants are also prevented from opening for anything other than takeout.
Rita turned 30 on Thursday (November 26). The following day, the singer shared photo of her birthday celebration at home – she got all glammed up and enjoyed a slice of her birthday cake. Her home was also decked out in gold and leopard print balloons, and flowers.
“Me and cake and some trousers I couldn’t breathe in,” she captioned the slideshow. “Thank you for all the love it felt weird not doing anything for my bday so being me I dressed up and ate cake 🍰 also clock the hairspray on the table lol anyway thank you for everyone who showed me endless love on my born day I’m forever grateful you all know who you are. Today I’m going to finish the rest of my cake for breakfast lunch and dinner. Byeeeeeeeeee 🥰🎈🍰.”
However, multiple outlets report that she threw a birthday bash for 30 people at a Notting Hill restaurant on Saturday (November 28).
Rita has since spoken out to address the backlash.
“Hello all, I attended a small gathering with some friends to celebrate my 30th birthday,” Rita wrote on her Instagram Stories. “It was a spur of the moment decision made with the misguided view that we were coming out of lockdown and this would be OK.”
“I’m deeply sorry for breaking the rules and in turn understand that this puts people at risk,” she continued. “This was a serious and inexcusable error of judgement. Given the restrictions, I realize how irresponsible these actions were and I take full responsibility.”
Rita has previously talked about how her own mother, psychiatrist Vera Sahatçiu, was one of the people on the front lines in England helping to battle the ongoing pandemic.
“I feel particularly embarrassed knowing first-hard how hard people have worked to combat this terrible illness and being fully aware of the sacrifices that people and businesses have made to help keep up safe,” she went on, concluding her message with, “Even though this won’t make it right, I want to sincerely apologize.”
According to The Daily Mail, Rita voluntarily paid a $13,333 fine for the offense
