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Mandela 'is disappointed' by Naomi's Campbell's Heathrow rage
Amar Singh25 Jun 2008
Nelson Mandela personally intervened to ensure Naomi Campbell does not appear on stage at his 90th birthday concert on Friday.
The former South African leader told organisers to take the 38-year-old supermodel off the bill for the Hyde Park charity event after she was fined and sentenced to 200 hours' community service for assaulting two police officers on board a British Airways flight at Heathrow in April.
A source close to the concert said that the "man himself intervened and she was pulled of the list".
"He was disappointed with her recent arrest - particularly as she was wearing a 46664 baseball cap."
The number was assigned to Mr Mandela during his 27 years in prison and is now used to promote his global HIV/Aids awareness campaign. Hyde Park will host a crowd of 46,664.
The source added: "Naomi was slated to introduce some acts on stage as she has done with 46664 concerts in the past, but she has been informed that this time she can only sit in the grandstand."
Campbell calls Mr Mandela her "honorary grandfather," and has met him a number of times.
After she was arrested in 2006 for throwing a mobile phone at her housekeeper, the Streatham-born model reportedly visited the anti-apartheid hero to seek his advice on her anger-management problems. Which is why, sources say, her recent "air rage" outburst would have disappointed him even more.
The concert will be hosted by actor Will Smith and will feature performances by Amy Winehouse, Annie Lennox, Leona Lewis, Sugababes, Razorlight and Simple Minds.
Winehouse, 24, has been rehearsing this week after having treatment for the lung disease emphysema.
Special guests set to appear on stage include Gordon Brown, Lewis Hamilton, Prince William and Prince Harry, former US president Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton.
A spokesman for Campbell said: "Naomi had never planned to go to the concert but she has been invited as a guest to his dinner tonight."
Sources confirmed that Campbell was on the guest list for a charity dinner in a marquee in Hyde Park tonight.
The source said: "They haven't fallen out and I'm sure if their paths cross at the dinner it will be fine. It is very much like a mentor being disappointed by the behaviour of a protégé and excluding her from the concert is more a slap on the wrist than anything else."
