Rita Ora has lost around 220,000 Instagram followers after her “inexcusable” lockdown-breaking party.
It comes after the songstress was accused of acting “selfishly” by Metropolitan Police in a Kensington and Chelsea Council licencing sub-committee hearing on Thursday.
Rita sparked furore on social media for hosting her 30th birthday party at Casa Cruz restaurant in Notting Hill, London in November last year during the second national lockdown.
At the time, the singer gave a grovelling apology to fans saying she was “deeply sorry” as the backlash was mounting online.
Her Instagram following has been steadily dropping off over the past six months.
Rita now has 16,024,000 fans on her Instagram account as of Friday January 29.
(Image: ritaora/Instagram)
It emerges after Mr Charles Holland, who is representing the Met Police’s application, said Rita “selfishly wished to flout the lockdown” by seeking to pay for access to the Casa Cruz restaurant in Clarendon Road.
Scott Bhattarai, who is described as the general manager of the restaurant at the time of the party in council documents, previously gave a statement to police on December 1.
According to the documents, which were previously released by the council, he told police Ora’s representatives called him on his personal mobile phone at about 5.30pm on the day of the party and told him they wanted to use the venue for “drinks and nibbles”.
(Image: ritaora/Instagram)
Mr Bhattarai said the representatives offered £5,000 and he noted most staff were on furlough so he went to Casa Cruz to “facilitate the event”.
He apologised for being “greedy” in his witness statement and consequently has been dismissed from his position.
Rita volunteered to pay a £10,000 fine for breaching the Covid-19 rules last November.
At the time, Rita told her fans she was “deeply sorry” about the party.
(Image: Rita Ora/Instagram)
She wrote: “Hello all, I attended a small gathering with some friends to celebrate my 30th birthday.
“It was a spur oft he 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.
“This was a serious and inexcusable error of judgement. Given the restrictions, I realise how irresponsible these actions were and I take full responsibility.
“I feel particularly embarrassed knowing first-hand 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 us all safe.
“Even though this won’t make it right, I want to sincerely apologise.”