During their set at the Victorious Festival on August 22, Irish folk band The Mary Wallopers were suddenly silenced. They opened their set by displaying the Palestinian flag. Additionally, they started with the announcement “Free Palestine and f—k Israel.” After this, their sound was cut off, and the flag was removed.
The band posted a video of the incident on Instagram. “We are uploading this video so everybody can see [Victorious Festival] cut our gig short for having a Palestinian flag on stage,” they wrote in the caption.
“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,” the post continued. “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.’ The same crew member is later heard in the video saying ‘You aren’t playing until the flag is removed.’”
The Last Dinner Party and Vampire Weekend Share Support for The Mary Wallopers
After this incident, British indie band The Last Dinner Party pulled out of their slot at Victorious on August 23. They shared the news on Instagram as well.
“We are outraged by the decision made to silence the Mary Wallopers yesterday at Victorious,” they wrote. “As a band we cannot cosign political censorship and will therefore be boycotting the festival today.”
The post continued, “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.”
Meanwhile, Vampire Weekend showed support for The Mary Wallopers’ actions not by boycotting the festival. Instead, they used their platform and performance to spread the news.
“If someone was punished for flying a flag, that is wrong and they deserve an apology,” frontman Ezra Koenig told the crowd on August 23, per a report from Portsmouth’s The News. “The terrible suffering of the Palestinian people deserves all of our sympathy.”
Initially, Victorious Festival made a statement on The Mary Wallopers incident. They claimed the band was censored because they “used a chant which is widely understood to have a discriminatory context.” After the band released their footage, the festival responded with an apology.
Photo by Harry Herd/WireImage
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