Piers Morgan and Lorraine Kelly criticise Rita Ora for hosting birthday party in lockdown: ‘What message does it send to her fans?’

Singer has apologised for celebrating her 30th birthday with a private party of 30 people

Piers Morgan and Lorraine Kelly have criticised Rita Ora for hosting a 30 person birthday party during lockdown.

Guests including Cara and Poppy Delevingne were pictured attending Ora’s private 30th birthday party at a restaurant in Notting Hill on Saturday (28 November), despite meetings with people from other households being banned during lockdown.

A Met Police spokesperson confirmed to The Sun that the police had been called to the event.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Monday, Morgan and Kelly discussed the singer’s gathering in regards to Kelly’s own birthday.

“It's a shame we can't come give you a hug and a kiss, although you're probably glad you can't get one from Piers,” Susanna Reid joked, asking Kelly: “Are you having a small get together?”

“Yeah, just little, just what everyone’s doing apart from Rita Ora,” Kelly replied.

Morgan said: “It really annoys me when these celebrities do that because what message does it send to all their millions of fans? It says, ‘I don’t believe this matters, nobody cares, I’ll do what I like.’ I don’t get it…. What’s the restaurant doing allowing that number of people?”

In reference to Ora’s reported 30 guests on her 30th birthday, Kelly joked: “I could have 61 people for 61? That would be quite nice when it's all over.'

On Monday afternoon, Ora apologised for attending the gathering, writing on Instagram that she was “embarrassed" and “deeply sorry” for breaking the rules.

“I’m deeply sorry for breaking the rules and in turn understand that this puts people at risk,” she wrote. “This was a serious and inexcusable error of judgement. Given the restrictions, I realise how irresponsible these actions were and I take full responsibility.

“Even though this won’t make it right, I want to sincerely apologise,” she said.