Visiting pop star Dua Lipa has slammed Richard Wilkins today, after the veteran entertainment reporter suggested she’d skipped out of her Australian touring commitments to appear on US television.
Nine’s veteran entertainment reporter made the comments on this morning’s episode of the Today show, explaining that New Rules hit maker Lipa was in Australia as the opening act for the Bruno Mars 24K World Tour.
“Dua Lipa cancelled her appearances last weekend, as a result of having to have immediate surgery to have her wisdom teeth removed. But get this, here she is last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Nine aired footage of Lipa performing her latest hit IDGAFon last night’s episode of the US late night show, before Wilkins added: “We were told that was live to air …”.
Lipa, who did miss several shows of the Australian tour but was back on stage opening for Bruno Mars in Sydney last night, set the record straight with an angrily worded tweet to both Wilkins and the Nine Network.
“Lol @RichardWilkins if you were a good journalist you would’ve done proper research instead of talking out of your ᴀss. Jimmy Kimmel was sH๏τ in Feb in La and aired yesterday. I’ve been in Australia on bed rest and wouldn’tve cancelled my Bruno shows if I didn’t have to,” she wrote, along with a close-up picture of herself looking worse for wear during said bed rest.
Wilkins responded to the pop star’s tweet with an apology, explaining that he had “ᴀssumed” her prerecorded Jimmy Kimmel slot was live:
Lupa’s Australian touring commitments continue tonight with a sold out headlining show at Sydney’s Big Top, Luna Park.