“Leave Africa alone”: Shakira’s FIFA 2026 anthem takes a controversial turn as she gets accused of promoting racist stereotypes

Shakira, the popular pop star, has turned heads as she released the video of the official song of FIFA 2026, “Dai Dai”.While the track has sparked chaos as it also features football stars, including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo, declaring they are “ready” for the World Cup, the song has now taken a new turn after a 10 second clip of it has sparked outrage.A few hours ago, a clip of Shakira dancing along with a few children has convinced many that the pop star was trying to showcase Africa in a negative light.While it is a 10 second clip from the four minute video of the new track, it has sparked a heated debate among fans.A fan posted, “Africa isn’t all just huts and villages and i wish she’ll stop pushing this stereotype , there’s so many beautiful parts”, while another fan wrote, “Y’all should go tell Shakira to leave Africa alone and start to explore her own culture for a change…”A third fan commented, “Portraying Africa as a barren wasteland as usual! Mass dislike this stupid video when it comes out”.Another fan wrote, “Swear to y’all I was born in Africa and lived in multiple African countries but I barely see huts…this is stupidly irritating! Why is this music video depicting Africa so poorly! Besides the world is literally in North America! What the heck!!!”A fifth fan noted, “@shakira stop putting this racist images of Africa and African children in your videos. This World Cup has nothing to do with Africa yet here you are reinforcing racist, harmful and archaic imagery. It’s 2026, travel and grow up! Racist!”However, neither the popular pop star Shakira nor her team has officially reacted to the criticism as the track has already crossed a whopping 10 million views on YouTube.For the unversed, the video for the official song of FIFA 2026, “Dai Dai”, was shot in Miami and was directed by Hannah Lux Davis.While the video does begin with Shakira standing at the top of Mexico City's iconic Angel of Independence, it later changes to her dancing along with a group of children in what seems to be a desert. The clip also features Burna Boy, as many have also called him out for it.