Sónar Festival “distances itself” from controversial owners KKR
In a new statement, Barcelona‘s Sónar Festival has said it “distances itself from any action taken” by its owners, KKR.
The Spanish event is the latest festival to issue a statement regarding KKR, following Mighty Hoopla, Field Day, and Boiler Room. KKR became the parent company of Superstruct Entertainment after acquiring the company in a deal reportedly worth $1.3 billion in 2024.
In addition to Mighty Hoopla, Field Day, Boiler Room, and Sónar, Superstruct is also the owner of Sziget, Lost Village, Boardmasters, Bennicassim, Victorious Festival, Kendal Calling, Tramlines, Y Not, Flow Festival, Truck and many more around Europe.
KKR is an investment group with financial ties to the Coastal GasLink pipeline and several Israeli corporations operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In a public statement, Sónar expressed its “solidarity with the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza”. They added: “We understand that our lack of a sufficiently clear public response to such a grave humanitarian situation has caused unease and concern.”
“We want to make explicitly clear that Sónar distances itself from any action taken by KKR. We have no influence over—nor, of course, any control whatsoever—over their investments or decisions,” the statement continued.
The Spanish festival concluded: “Our independence remains intact across all areas that define Sónar’s identity: the artistic direction, management of the festival and our ethical and cultural commitments, with which we have stood firm over the course of 32 years.”
Similarly, Mighty Hoopla shared last week: “We recognise that the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and that it is practising apartheid and occupation against the Palestinian people.”
The LGBTQ+ event also said KKR’s purchase of Superstruct was “a transaction that we were not involved with and had no knowledge of until its completion”. Mighty Hoopla continued: “Since then, information has come to light about KKR’s unethical investments, particularly in complicit Israeli corporations, which directly counter what we stand for as a festival.”
Sónar Festival is set to take place in Barcelona between June 12th and 14th. Artists set to perform at the Catalonian event include Peggy Gou, Bicep, Eric Prydz, Overmono, Barry Can’t Swim and Honey Dijon.
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