The Last Dinner Party pull out of Victorious Festival in solidarity with The Mary Wallopers: “We cannot cosign political censorship”
After The Mary Wallopers had their set cut short as a result of their pro-Palestine messaging, indie-rock titans The Last Dinner Party have pulled out of Victorious Festival only hours before their set.
On August 22nd, Irish band The Mary Wallopers took to the stage at the Portsmouth festival for a set that was stopped only a few moments into the first song, after a dispute over their display of a Palestinian flag on stage.
The band have since shared a video of the incident alongside a statement which reads in part, “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’.”
This was in response to a statement from the festival, which the band have since deemed “misleading”. The festival posited that it was “the artist’s decision to stop the song,” and event management cut the sound only “after the band used a chant which is widely understood to have a discriminatory context.” According to the festival, the band had fair warning of their no-flags policy.
Now, The Last Dinner Party have announced that they are boycotting the festival in solidarity with The Mary Wallopers, and with Palestine. “We are outraged by the decision made to silence The Mary Wallopers yesterday at Victorious,” they wrote in a statement on social media. “As a band we cannot cosign political censorship and will therefore be boycotting the festival today.”
Ahead of their 19:45 set on August 23rd, the statement 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.”
The Mercury-nominees then highlighted other statements of political solidarity they have taken with Palestine, writing, “Throughout this summer we have used our stages to encourage our audience to donate even a drink’s worth of money to Medical Aid for Palestinians, and today we urge you more than ever to do the same.”
They signed off with an apology to all of their fans at Victorious Festival, as they are “devastated to be put in this position that upsets both us and you. Free Palestine.” The Mary Wallopers shared this statement to their Instagram Stories, branding The Last Dinner Party as “legends.”
Elsewhere at the festival, Getdown Services posted that they considered pulling out of the festival, but instead have “we’re going to play and donate the entire fee to War Child.” They deemed the Portsmouth festival “spineless, pathetic idiots.”
Cork band Cliffords have also pulled out of the set in solidarity with the Irish folk-rock band. Additionally, fellow Irish group The Academic have withdrawn from Victorious, writing on social media, “We’ve taken the decision to pull out of Victorious Festival. We can’t in good conscience stand up and play at a festival that silences free speech and the right to express your views. We stand in solidarity with the other Irish acts here this weekend. FREE PALESTINE.”
The festival is set to be headlined by Vampire Weekend tonight.
No replacement has been announced for The Last Dinner Party.
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