Shocking what happened to The Mary Wallopers says Electric Picnic Director
The Mary Wallopers had their sound cut off when they started into the first song of their set at the Victorious Festival in Portsmouth last weekend for displaying a Palestinian Flag.
THE Director of the Electric Picnic Melvin Benn said that there is no policy in place at his festival that will prevent any artist or band voicing their opinions or flying flags from the stages and that “mics won’t be switched off.”
He made the comments when he was asked about the festival’s policies at today’s annual media preview of the site.
He referred to Kneecap who will be performing at the festival on the Main Stage on Saturday afternoon.
“They’re great lads. They’ve got really important songs, brilliant live, but they’ve got really important messages. They’re on home territory here. I think they will be really relaxed, and the crowd will be appreciative of them.”
Asked for his opinion on other festival dropping artists such as The Mary Wallopers and their set that was cut-off at a recent festival in Britain, Mr Benn had this to say: “It was absolutely shocking what happened to The Mary Wallopers. And I’m glad a number of other artists withdrew from the festival as a result of it. It definitely won’t be my policy.”
