Despite the United Arab Emirates continuing to tackle missiles and drones from Iran, celebrities and influencers have insisted it is business as normal in the sunny city of Dubai
Over the weekend, people across the world were left in fear after the USA and Israel launched strikes on Iran. The strikes saw unprecedented retaliation from Iran, which responded by attacking various locations across the Middle East including Tehran, Beirut and the United Arab Emirates.
Dubai, which in recent years has grown in popularity and has been hailed as a safe haven for celebrities, influencers and business owners alike, was hit with explosions as missiles were fired. Terrifying videos appeared to show no one was safe as luxury hotel Dubai’s Burj Al Arab, Palm Jumeirah was filmed being hit by missile debris and people were told to stay inside their homes as missiles were taken down.
Those in the UAE were urged to stay inside and celebrities like Kate Ferdinand and Luisa Zissman were forced to take shelter in the basements of their plush pads. The British Embassy in Dubai is advising against all but essential travel to the UAE while British nationals in the country are being urged to register their presence in the state. On Wednesday morning, the warnings continued as the United Kingdom’s Embassy in the United Arab Emirates issued an official warning urging people to “shelter in place”. An image posted on its Twitter read: “Move indoors and remain inside. Follow the instructions of the local authorities. You should stay indoors or go to the nearest safe building. Stay away from windows. An interior stairwell or a room with as few windows as possible to offer additional protection.”
READ MORE: Geordie Shore star Sam Gowland flees Dubai as he sends message to UAE governmentREAD MORE: Lindsay Lohan’s family ‘concerned’ as star remains in Dubai despite Iran war
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As the UAE continues to intercept missiles and drones from Iran – and the state announced they intercepted six missiles and 131 drones on Wednesday – celebrities are returning to their socials and claiming life is as is in Dubai. Social media posts this week have seen stars including Luisa Zissman and Arabella Chi shopping, dining out, sunbathing and continuing on as normal. Meanwhile other celebrities including Laura Anderson and Sam Gowland have opted to travel elsewhere, but not before sending gushing messages praising the UAE government – despite being forced to take shelter in the midst of the drone strikes.
Meanwhile YouTuber DMO Deejay sat in his garage filled with supercars in his recent YouTube video titled I’m Moving Back To UK From Dubai and said: “Find me one person who’s gonna talk s**t about Dubai.” And he seems correct, would struggle to find people criticising the city. But why?
In comes the Golden Visa scheme, which was officially launched in Dubai in 2019 to provide investors, entrepreneurs and ‘specialised talents’ with residency in the city. In January year, the UAE and Creators HQ launched a visa scheme specifically for content creators to attract and retain global content creators with large followings. The Mirror cannot confirm if the celebrities and influencers mentioned in this article are in receipt of a Golden Visa in Dubai or whether their posts are linked in any way to the UAE government.
Speaking on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, Richard Osman explains of the visas: “Under this scheme they give you a number of different things. They give you visa, they give you like a physical creators HQ hub, which has, you know, podcast studios, offices, all those things, they will give you business and legal support, they would essentially set you up as a business.”
Richard argues people are being “massively incentivized” to make the jump over to Dubai like so many have over the past year. But there is a catch. Richard’s co-host Marina Hyde said later in the podcast episode: “Extraordinarily, the city itself has become constructed in a sort of Instagram friendly way – Instagram has a headquarters there, no surprise.
“And there’s obviously a sort of dark side to this because you can be detained for making defamatory comments. You do sometimes have to do state work – although it’s never discussed, people don’t say whether they’ve been paid or whether it’s just, you know, ‘you’re on the team now you take one for it and it’s just the cost of doing business’ and they never rock the boat.” So while the grass isn’t always greener, in Dubai it appears to be golden.
Days after saying she was planning to “hide her family in a storage cupboard”, Love Island star Arabella, who moved to Dubai in September, shared a photo of her baby son eating by a swimming pool alongside snaps of her and her beau Billy Henty on a romantic date night, where the dined al fresco in a swanky sushi restaurant in the city.
And on Thursday, Apprentice star Luisa Zissman posted videos of herself walking her dog before going shopping in a Zara store in the city. Speaking in a clip posted to her Instagram story on Wednesday, Luisa said: “I just want to show you guys it’s all very normal in Dubai,” as she walked around the clothing store holding several garments on hangers.
Other stars have taken different stances, meanwhile, opting to leave Dubai on the next available luxury flight – but not without posting their gratitude to the UAE government for protecting them. Former Love Island star Laura Anderson had landed in the UAE with her daughter Bonnie, two, just a few short days before she opted to hop on a flight home five days earlier than planned due to the missile strikes. As she posted a view from her airplane seat on her Instagram, she wrote: “We’re on although I’m taking each stage very lightly….
“The airport was quiet as expected. Calm, people were so helpful felt a bit teary.” She continued: “Praying for safe skies (as I’ve always said when someone flys) [sic] it just means more now”. Giving insight into the atmosphere, she said: “Everyone onboard is very quiet I assume on edge a little like me. My dads favourite song just came on so I’m feeling government.”
Despite opting to flee the country early, Laura’s post signed off with a rather jarring message praising the UAE government. “Thank you to the UAE government for protecting us and continuing to protect my friends and family. I will always be proud to have been an expat”, she declared. Geordie Shore star Sam Gowland’s departure message to the country held a similar tone. As he posted a view from his luxury flight from Dubai to Mauritius, he gushed: “Massive massive thanks to the UAE government for protecting us & continuing to do so absolutely incredible the job they are doing as they always are.”
The gushing messages hailing the UAE government and going about business as normal in the midst of a war feel jarring at best. It isn’t just celebrities sharing gushing messages praising the UAE’s government, as TikTok videos following a near identical format showing influencers praising the city’s leader, Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, for “protecting” them. The videos begin by featuring the words: “You live in Dubai aren’t you scared?” Before being followed by images of the Prime Minister of the UAE alongside the images: “No, because I know who protects us.”
Reacting to these videos, Katja Muñoz, senior research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told the Financial Times: “It’s not quite propaganda but it has a touch of it. It’s an influence operation, and it’s interesting that after just 60 hours [of war] we’re seeing that.” She added: “Of course, partly this is just people copying, monetising content, but it definitely began in a negotiated, sponsored way.
“What it tells me is that they [the UAE] have established structures already — they have existing relationships with influencers which they have been able to use very quickly.”
One TikToker, called Juli, even confessed she was ‘paid’ to share her own version of the video trend. She explained in a separate video: “First of all, I want to say that in the video I say I’m not scared but in reality I was intimidated at first because it was the first time I’ve seen rockets in the sky with my own eyes. Who wouldn’t be scared, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.” She then goes on to claim Dubai ‘paid’ her in business opportunities, safety, sun and lifestyle the city provides. The follow up video has also been criticised as another commercial plug for the city.
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