Armie Hammer and Sofia Richie are among the multiple influencers and celebrities who have sparked criticism for promoting a music festival in Saudi Arabia despite the country’s human rights record.
The famous faces flocked the capital Riyadh for the MDL Beast festival over the weekend, posting Instagram videos and pictures from the event.
The guest list also featured Irina Shayk, Luke Sabbat, Scott Disick, supermodels Joan Smalls and Alessandro Ambrosio, actor Alessandro Ambrosio while the music acts on the line-up included David Guetta and Steve Aoki.
The festival, which took place over the weekend, billed itself as “the region’s biggest music event.”
Hammer said on Instagram the festival was “felt like a cultural shift”.
He wrote: “What I just witnessed was truly special. I saw Saudi men and women ecstatic about an event that they never thought they would ever see in their lifetimes... it felt like a cultural shift. A change.
“Like Woodstock in the 1960’s. Social evolution is slow and takes time but what I was able to be a part of felt like one giant seed of growth.
“The people there throwing themselves into the experience will lead a cultural revolution that we all need to get behind and support. #mdlbeast.”
In response, New York Magazine and Huffington Post contributor Yashar Ali tweeted: “Hope it was worth it @armiehammer
“Did you find Jamal Khashoggi’s body while you were there?”
One photo posted by Richie, the caption “Saudi girls” was heavily criticised, given that women’s rights activists have been detained and allegedly tortured in the country.
Richie posted the picture from Riyadh’s luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel, the same hotel that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly used to detain an undetermined number of prominent Saudis who were held under the guise of anti-corruption efforts.
Podcast host and writer Aminatou Sow said on Twitter that influencer culture was “shameless”.
Standard Online have contacted representatives for Richie and Hammer.
Instagram fashion page Diet Prada claimed that "six-figure sums were offered for attendance and geo-tagged posts."
Diet Prada received a statement from Emily Ratajkowski detailing why she declined to attend citing that she uncomfortable with Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, particularly for LGBTIQ+ people.
“It’s very important to me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community, freedom of expression and the right to a free press. I hope coming forward on this brings more attention to the injustices happening there,” the statement said.
The music festival is seen by many to be an attempt at changing Saudi Arabia's image.
Nicki Minaj previously backed out of her headlining performance at this summer's Jeddah World Fest, following pressure from human rights groups.
She said in a statement: “After careful reflection I have decided to no longer move forward with my scheduled concert at Jeddah World Fest.
“While I want nothing more than to bring my show to fans in Saudi Arabia, after better educating myself on the issues, I believe it is important for me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and freedom of expression.”
