FURY OVER SIR ROD’S ‘JIHADI EXECUTION VIDEO’
IS victim’s daughter outraged
SIR Rod Stewart last night said sorry after he sparked anger by staging a mock beheading.
Bethany Haines, whose dad David was executed by Jihadi John, called Rod “an absolute disgrace”.
SIR Rod Stewart was branded “an absolute disgrace” yesterday by the “raging” daughter of a murdered Islamic State hostage for filming a mock execution in the desert.
Bethany Haines, 19, whose aid worker dad David was beheaded on camera by British Isis killer Jihadi John, accused the singer of doing “anything for a cheap laugh at the expense of others”.
The teenager spoke out after Sir Rod’s wife, Penny Lancaster, posted a video on Instagram showing him pretending to behead a pal on a desert trip in the Middle East.
It was deleted and the Maggie May singer later apologised.
He said he had been “larking around” before his show in Abu Dhabi and was merely reenacting a scene from TV’s Game Of Thrones – not an Isis execution video.
Excuse
But Bethany, whose 44-year-old dad was murdered in 2014, said she did not accept his explanation.
In a series of posts on Facebook, she said: “Some celebrities are an absolute disgrace.
“Raging doesn’t begin to describe how I feel. Some people will do anything for a cheap laugh. Had so much respect for the guy till now. Now you couldn’t pay me to listen to his music.
“I get he’s issued an apology but I don’t accept his excuse that it was a Game Of Thrones prank.”
Sir Rod’s actions mimicked a string of murders carried out by Isis’s Jihadi John – aka Mohammed Emwazi.
First Penny, 45, filmed the singer and his friends doing an Abbey Road-style Beatles walk across a sand dune.
Then Sir Rod, 72, pretended to behead a pal. His wife sat on the dune not knowing what he was doing.
Later Sir Rod issued a statement saying: “We were simply larking about pre-show. I send my apologies.”
The gaffe came weeks after he left football fans giggling following a Scottish Cup fifth round draw.