BEYONCE'S BLAST AT 'WHITE' LIES; Star denies Glasgow MOBO slurs.

Byline: BEVERLEY LYONS; John Dingwall

BEYONCE has hit back at claims she is not attending this week's MOBOs in Glasgow because the city is too "white".

The diva is nominated for a MOBO but won't be in Scotland for the awards.

But she is adamant it has nothing to do with where the event is being held.

As she performed for cancer patients at a hospital in Singapore, the Crazy In Love singer said of the claims: "That's just not true."

Paul McKenzie, former MOBO panelist, said: "The real problem is getting the stars to go to Glasgow. I can understand why the MOBOs went to Glasgow - because they were having problems getting the council to foot the bill for security. But it doesn't work.

"Glasgow just isn't sexy and it's a very white city. Even Leeds, Cardiff or Birmingham would have made more sense. It's not a big draw for US artists.

"Ask any US artist where Scotland is and they'd probably struggle."

But Beyonce's team refute that and say the star simply could not have been at this year's event.

An insider said: "The slur about Glasgow is just not true. Beyonce knows exactly where it is. I think you'll find that Beyonce is not the type of person to be impressed by the idea that she would snub one city over the other.

"Glasgow was good enough for her when she toured the UK. She thought the audience were wonderful."

The insider revealed the real reason many stars are unable to attend the MOBOs was the failure of the organisers to lock in the date until the 11th hour.

"Beyonce and other stars of her stature are not at the MOBOs because their diaries are locked in up to two years in advance," he said. "It is only in the past few weeks that the MOBO awards have started to come together.

"Beyonce would want it known that her failure to appear at the MOBO awards has nothing to do with the event being relocated to Scotland. In fact, I don't think she was even invited."

Last night a spokesman for the MOBOs said: "Beyonce was invited. All nominees are invited to attend.

"The date of the MOBOs was announced back in April.We would love to have Beyonce there obviously."

Meanwhile Beyonce thrilled patients at a cancer ward in Singapore.

The R&B superstar visited the National University Hospital and sang an acoustic version of her hit Halo.

Beyonce said: "We came here to do a little performance and I brought some members of my band."

The visit on Sunday was in stark contrast to reports that Beyonce had acted like a diva prior to playing her F1 Rocks concert on Saturday.

Beyonce's hospital visit was followed by a trip to the track with the children as Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One, and Christina Ong, patron of Singapore's Children's Cancer Foundation, invited the kids to the paddock.

A spokesman from the Children's Cancer Foundation said the children had "the best day of their lives."

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HEART OF GOLD: Beyonce sang her hit track Halo in the kids' cancer unit in Singapore