Festival organisers admit they got it wrong with The Mary Wallopers
Victorious Festival organisers admitted they got it wrong how they handled cutting off The Mary Wallopers at their festival.
THE war of words between the organisers of the 80,000 strong Victorious Festival in Portsmouth and The Mary Wallopers has taken another twist.
Within minutes of their set being cut and microphones switched off yesterday evening Friday 22 the band took to their social media accounts to announce that they had been ‘cut off at Victorious Festival for having a Palestinian flag on the stage’.
Several hours later the event organisers issued their own statement on the matter in which they said they had spoken to the artist before the performance regarding the festival’s long-standing policy of not allowing flags of any kind at the event and said the band took it on themselves to leave the stage.
The organisers said the reason why the band’s sound was cut was because “the band used a chant which is widely understood to have a discriminatory context.”
Clearly infuriated with that statement the band rejected the organiser’s version, said it was misleading, and called for the statement to be immediately retracted.
The band then posted a video on their Instagram site clearly showing what had transpired where one of the organising stage crew members informed a band member “you’re not playing until the flag is removed.”
In the latest on the matter a statement from 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.”
It is now understood that the organisers of the festival have agreed to make “a substantial contribution” to Palestinian charity groups, while The Mary Wallopers have said that their fee for playing at the festival will be donated to a Palestinian aid group.
