The Mary Wallopers’ set cut short at Victorious Festival following Palestine protest
The Mary Wallopers have claimed they were “cut off” by Victorious Festival due to having a Palestine flag on-stage.
The Portsmouth festival is taking place between August 22nd and August 24th, with Queens of the Stone Age, Vampire Weekend, and Kings of Leon set to headline the event.
Earlier this afternoon, the Irish folk group were scheduled to take to the stage between 17:00 and 17:45 on the Castle Stage. However, their set came to an early conclusion, which the band say was due to their Palestine flag.
“Just got cut off at Victorious Festival for having a Palestinian flag on the stage. We’ve been doing this for 6 years now and this has never happened before,” they wrote on Instagram Stories. The group continued: “Free Palestine all day every day.”
Many audience members have taken to X to express their anger with the festival for cutting the set early, with one user claiming they were removed “after 5 minutes”. According to Setlist FM, the band only performed one song before it came to a premature end.
Meanwhile, Kneecap wrote on the same social media platform: “Our good pals The Mary Wallopers have just been pulled off stage and the PA shut down at Victorious Festival in Portsmouth for taking out a (Palestine flag emoji) and saying Free Palestine.”
They continued: “Speak up against genocide in England and you’re treated like a criminal. Up the Mary Wallopers. Free Palestine! Free the 6 counties!”
Additionally, Orla Gartland has also shown her support for The Mary Wallopers, describing it as “madness”.
A spokesperson for the festival told Far Out: “We spoke to the artist before the performance regarding the festival’s long-standing policy of not allowing flags of any kind at the event, but that we respect their right to express their views during the show. Although a flag was displayed on stage contrary to our policy, and this was raised with the artist’s crew, the show was not ended at this point, and it was the artist’s decision to stop the song.”
“The decision by the event management to cut the sound and end the performance was only taken after the band used a chant which is widely understood to have a discriminatory context. To be clear, we respect the right of artists to use their platform to express their views within the inclusive nature of the event and it was not the band’s call to ‘Free Palestine’ which resulted in this outcome.”
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