Kate Hudson's Dubai Tourism Video Met With Human Rights Backlash

Kate Hudson’s advertisement for Dubai tourism and the United Arab Emirates has sparked widespread condemnation among social media users this week.

The American actress shared several photos and a video from her recent trip to the Gulf state, accompanied by actresses Zoe Saldana and Gwyneth Paltrow, on her Instagram. However, she has received comments of disapproval from disappointed fans, blaming her for advertising tourism in a country with a 'questionable' human rights record.

Some social media users accused Hudson of receiving a large sum of money to make Dubai look like a fashionable place, and to help hide the brutal reality behind the city’s glamorous facade.

“The glossy side you promote is nothing like the real world there” one of Hudson’s followers commented. 

“Why support the government and tourism there? You have so much money already? They literally kill people for being gay” another added.

The advertising campaign dubbed “A Story Takes Flight” is funded by the UAE government, which is notoriously guilty of human rights violations, such as enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, grossly unfair trials and torture. This is part of the UAE’s wider PR campaign to distract from these systematic human rights abuses.