British rock singer Rod Stewart is sorry for making a video which appears to show him beheading a man in a desert. Posted by the rock singer’s wife, Penny Lancaster on Instagram, the video was captioned to say Stewart was doing a “’Beatles’ sand dune crossing.” The video has since been removed from Lancaster’s Instagram page, but it has already popped up on YouTube.
As reported by Fox News, Stewart, 72, and his wife were in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for a concert at the time and he, along with his band members and wife, can be seen walking across the sand dunes.
Suddenly, Stewart appears to force a man to kneel on the sand in front of him and then makes a cutting motion across his throat.
Rod Stewart’s video footage eerily similar to ISIS beheading videos
The footage was eerily similar to the many ISIS execution videos posted online, including the video of the execution of a British aid worker, Alan Henning. The Guardian reports that relatives of another aid worker, David Haines, who was killed by ISIS in September 2014 were horrified at Stewart’s actions, quoting Haines’ daughter as saying this actually happened to her father and it isn’t something to joke about. Besides friends and families of those killed by ISIS, the footage has also caused many other viewers to be offended and distressed.
Readers can view the video footage here.
Rod Stewart is currently on a world tour
Stewart is currently on a world tour and will be heading to the U.S. and Mexico following his appearance in Abu Dhabi. He said in a statement to The Sun newspaper that the video was merely a prank, saying they were re-enacting the famous “Abbey Road” crossing by the Beatles, while at the same time playing out a scene from the HBO series, “Game of Thrones.” Stewart said they were “simply larking about” before their show and he sent his “deepest apologies” to those he has offended with his actions.
Not the first time Rod Stewart has been involved in a mock beheading scandal either... pic.twitter.com/QopzoJNJcz
— Alex Cavendish (@PrisonUK) March 3, 2017
Several high-quality videos have appeared online of various ISIS beheadings, many of which were the work of British extremist, Mohammed Emwazi, better known as Jihadi John. Among his victims were the aid workers, Henning and Haines, as well as Steven Stoloff, an American journalist, James Wright Foley, a U.S. photojournalist and Peter Kassig, an American aid worker.