Victorious Festival UK Issues Apology After Cutting Mary Wallopers Set Short Over Palestinian Flag
Victorious Festival, which took place Aug. 22-24 in Portsmouth, England, has issued an apology for cutting the sound right at the start of Mary Wallopers set, after the band displayed a Palestinian flag on stage and voiced its support for the Palestinian people as well as its disdain for Israel.
Video footage posted by the Mary Wallopers on their socials shows their set starting, a Victorious employee entering the stage, pointing to the flag and communicating first with the band’s bass player, then with someone standing on the side of the stage.
When the entire band realizes what’s going on, and as the festival employee removes the flag from the amp it was placed on, they halt their set to inform the audience of what’s going on. Their sound is cut just after they demand the flag being put back up.
Several bands scheduled to perform at the festival pulled out after this incident, including The Last Dinner Party, Cliffords, and The Academic. Vampire Weekend didn’t cancel their set, but voiced their solidarity with Mary Wallopers on stage, saying, according to The Guardian: “If someone was punished for flying a flag, that is wrong and they deserve an apology.”
They got one, after Victorious Festival published a statement explaining the actions taken, and issuing an apology “to all concerned.”
This statement followed a previous, now deleted statement, which reportedly stated the band’s set got cut because of a discriminatory chant, which may have referred to the band exclaiming “F*** Israel”, though it’s unclear what exactly the festival’s organizers were referring to.
The band called this initial statement misleading, and pointed out that the video footage clearly showed that the issue was with the flag.
The latest statement from Victorious Festival mentions its “policy of not allowing flags of any kind, which has been in place for many years for wider event management and safety reasons,” adding that the “explanation of our policies” was neither handled “sensitively,” nor “far enough in advance.”
The statement concludes: “We are sorry that this situation has come about and will be making a substantial donation to humanitarian relief efforts for the Palestinian people.”
Victorious Festival is owned by Superstruct, which in turn is owned by KKR, a U.S.-based investment firm with holdings in Israeli organizations involved in the current conflict. This entanglement has caused Superstruct-owned events headaches in recent months.
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