CMAT pulls out of Latitude due to Barclays sponsorship
Irish singer-songwriter CMAT has withdrawn from the upcoming Latitude Festival in Suffolk due to the event’s partnership with Barclays.
CMAT’s decision to pull out from Latitude comes following the Great Escape festival in Brighton earlier this month, which is also affiliated with Barclays and had over 100 acts boycott because of the sponsorship agreement. The bank has been under intense scrutiny lately due to it funding Israeli forces throughout the ongoing attacks on Palestinians in Gaza following the October 7th attacks that has led to the death of over 35,000 Palestinians.
The Irish musician took to Instagram to announce the news of her decision. Reflecting on her history with Latitude, she acknowledged the festival “gave me one of my first big festival slots back in 2021, and playing the sunrise arena is one of my most cherished memories ever.” Nevertheless, she added, “Myself, and the entire CMAT touring crew who I love so much, refuse to be complicit in genocide.”
Explaining the reason for her withdrawal, CMAT told her followers that she was “very sorry to announce that I am officially pulling out of playing the main stage of Latitude Festival 2024. You may or may not be aware, but Latitude’s main sponsor is Barclays bank, who have been revealed to have increased their financing of various companies who are supplying weapons and military technology to Israel.”
CMAT said the bank have “invested over £100 million into General Dynamics, which provides gun systems to the fighter jets which are being used by Israel to bombard Gaza.”
Furthermore, she revealed that Latitude had been aware of her decision weeks ago, but refrained from announcing it until now because she hoped they would fined alternative sponsorship, which hasn’t come to fruition.
In addition to sponsoring the Great Escape and Latitude, Barclays is also linked to the Isle of Wight. The question of whether these festivals would also likely be affected by boycotts was put to Emilia Elfrida, singer of The Menstrual Cramps, who organised the Great Escape boycott last month, they told Far Out, “Music festivals can’t go ahead without musicians, and so musicians are the ones who have the power, even though a lot of the time, it doesn’t feel like that.”
Elfrida continued, “Obviously, the boycott target is Barclays, The Great Escape is just the first thing that’s coming up to do with Barclays. So anything else that is funded by Barclays in the music industry, we’re coming for them as well.”
This is a developing story.
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