The organisers, who claimed the band had their set cut short for using a “discriminatory” chant, have since issued an apology
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(Image: Tom Langford/Victorious Festival/Strong Island/PA Wire)A string of bands have pulled out of the Victorious music festival hours before they were due to perform after Irish folk music band The Mary Wallopers claimed they were “cut off” for displaying a Palestinian flag.
The Last Dinner Party, Cliffords and The Academic announced on Saturday that they would no longer be performing at the Portsmouth music festival following Friday’s incident.
The organisers, who claimed the band had their set cut short for using a “discriminatory” chant, have since issued an apology to the band and pledged to make “a substantial donation to humanitarian relief efforts for the Palestinian people”.
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Rock band The Last Dinner Party said they would boycott the festival in a statement shared on their Instagram page.
The statement said: “We are outraged by the decision made to silence The Mary Wallopers yesterday at Victorious. As a band we cannot cosign political censorship and will therefore be boycotting the festival today.
“As Gazans are deliberately plunged into catastrophic famine after two years of escalating violence it is urgent and obvious that artists use their platform to draw attention to the cause. To see an attempt to direct attention away from the genocide in order to maintain an apolitical image is immensely disappointing.
“Throughout this summer we have used our stages to encourage our audiences to donate even a drink’s worth of money to Medical Aid for Palestinians, and today we urge you more than ever to do the same.
“We are so deeply sorry to our fans who were looking forward to seeing us today, and we are devastated to be put in this position that upsets both us and you. Free Palestine.”
Following The Mary Wallopers’ set, a spokesperson for Victorious said: “We spoke to the artist before the performance regarding the festival’s long-standing policy of not allowing flags of any kind at the event, but that we respect their right to express their views during the show.
“Although a flag was displayed on stage contrary to our policy, and this was raised with the artist’s crew, the show was not ended at this point, and it was the artist’s decision to stop the song.”
In response, The Mary Wallopers claimed the festival had released a “misleading statement to the press claiming they cut our sound because of a discriminatory chant, and not the band’s call to Free Palestine.
“Our video clearly shows a Victorious crew member coming on stage, interfering with our show, removing the flag from the stage and then the sound being cut following a chant of ‘Free Palestine,’” they said.
“The same crew member is later heard in the video saying ‘you aren’t playing until the flag is removed’.”
Rock band The Academic have also pulled out of the festival, saying they could not “in good conscience” perform at “a festival that silences free speech”, while Irish band Cliffords said they “refuse to play if we are to be censored for showing our support to the people of Palestine”.
As the bands announced they would no longer perform at the festival, the organisers issued another statement on Instagram which read: “The Mary Wallopers are a fantastic band and we were very much looking forward to their performance at Victorious on Friday.
“We didn’t handle the explanation of our policies sensitively or far enough in advance to allow a sensible conclusion to be reached.
“This put the band and our own team in a difficult situation which never should have arisen. We would like to sincerely apologise to all concerned.
“We absolutely support the right of artists to freely express their views from the stage, within the law and the inclusive nature of the event. Our policy of not allowing flags of any kind, which has been in place for many years for wider event management and safety reasons, is not meant to compromise that right.
“We accept that, although mics remained live for longer, sound for The Mary Wallopers’ audience was cut as described in the band’s video and that comments after that were not audible to the public.
“We are sorry that this situation has come about and will be making a substantial donation to humanitarian relief efforts for the Palestinian people.”
The festival is set to feature Vampire Weekend, The Kaiser Chiefs and Kings Of Leon over the weekend.
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