Victorious 'sincerely apologises' for 'difficult situation which never should have arisen' after The Mary Wallopers were 'cut off' for Palestine flag
Victorious Festival has ‘sincerely apologised’ following the controversial decision to ‘cut off’ an Irish folk band during their set for a Palestine flag on the stage.
The band was performing on the Common Stage when the sound was cut a matter of minutes, prompting the crowds to start chanting pro Palestine messages.
Victorious previously said the decision to pull the plug on the band’s sound system ‘was only taken after the band used a chant which is widely understood to have a discriminatory context.’
The Mary Wallopers have since released a statement saying they ‘reject’ the ‘misleading’ comment issued by Victorious organisers.
The band wrote: “The festival have 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”.
“We completely reject Victorious’ portrayal of today’s events and request that they retract their statement immediately.
“We know this is getting some attention and we don’t want another distraction which takes attention away from the genocide that is happening in Palestine.
“FREE PALESTINE.”
This afternoon (August 23), Victorious Festival has released a second statement apologising to the band for the ‘difficult situation’ that arose.
Victorious Festival said: “The Mary Wallopers are a fantastic band and we were very much looking forward to their performance at Victorious on Friday.
“We are in the business of putting on great shows, not cutting them off and this is the last thing we wanted, for the band, their fans and ourselves.
“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.”
Since yesterday’s incident, The Academics and The Last Dinner Party have both pulled out and will no longer perform today.