\n
\n\tLONDON: Several bands withdrew from a British festival on Saturday following claims that Irish folk group The Mary Wallopers had their set cut short for displaying a Palestinian flag.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe incident sparked a wave of boycotts from other performers in solidarity, it was reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Last Dinner Party, Cliffords, and The Academic announced that they would no longer perform at the annual Victorious Festival in Portsmouth, citing concerns over political censorship.<\/p>\n
\n\tRock band The Last Dinner Party described the incident as \u201coutrageous\u201d and said they could not condone silencing artists.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAs 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,\u201d the band said in a statement shared on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\n\tThey urged fans to support Palestinian medical charities and apologized to those hoping to see them perform.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Mary Wallopers claimed the festival released a \u201cmisleading statement\u201d by suggesting their set was cut due to a discriminatory chant, rather than the band\u2019s call to \u201cFree Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThey released video footage showing a crew member removing the flag from the stage before the sound was cut.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe same crew member is later heard saying \u2018You aren\u2019t playing until the flag is removed\u2019,\u201d the band added.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Academic said they could not \u201cin good conscience\u201d perform at a festival that silenced free speech, while Cliffords said they \u201crefuse to play if we are to be censored for showing our support to the people of Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFestival organizers initially said The Mary Wallopers\u2019 microphones were turned off after displaying the flag, citing a long-standing policy against flags for safety and event management reasons.<\/p>\n
\n\tThey said: \u201cWe spoke to the artist before the performance regarding the festival\u2019s long-standing policy of not allowing flags of any kind at the event, but (we said) that we respect their right to express their views during the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThey acknowledged, however, that the policy was not communicated sensitively and apologized for the way the situation was handled.<\/p>\n
\n\tThey added: \u201cThe Mary Wallopers are a fantastic band, and we were very much looking forward to their performance on Friday.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe are in the business of putting on great shows, not cutting them off, and this is the last thing we wanted \u2014 for the band, their fans and ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOrganizers also pledged to make a \u201csubstantial donation\u201d to humanitarian relief efforts for Palestinians.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe festival\u2019s closing day on Sunday was set to feature Kings of Leon, with Bloc Party, Gabrielle, and The Reytons among the other acts scheduled to perform.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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LONDON: Several bands withdrew from a British festival on Saturday following claims that Irish folk…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"\n
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