Due to the undisclosed involvement of former MPs Tony Blair and David Cameron, musical acts like LVRA and Heartworms have withdrawn from the inaugural SXSW London festival.
Several music acts have withdrawn from the inaugural edition of SXSW London for allegedly hiding the involvement of controversial speakers from both the public and scheduled artists. LVRA, Sam Akpro and other artists are accusing the festival of “art-washing” after news that former Prime Ministers David Cameron and Tony Blair were part of the programme.
SXSW London 2025 marks the US event’s debut in Europe, running from June 2 to June 7 in Shoreditch. The week-long event includes talks, panel discussions, workshops and music performances with major politicians, entrepreneurs and artists including Dr. Jane Goodall, American-entrepreneur Lucy Guo, Sadiq Khan, Letitia Wright, Idris Elba, and many more.
Former prime ministers David Cameron and Tony Blair would speak at the event, untold by artists, according to journalist Matt Kennard’s leak of screenshots of an allegedly leaked programme via X last week. Despite the leak, organizers reportedly were “keen” for both talks to continue.
READ MORE: What happens when headline artists drop out of a music festival at the last minute
Artists jasmine were in the news about Cameron and Blair’s involvement with the festival. Heartworms, Sam Akpro, Blood of Aza, Saliah, and LVRA all made it known that they would no longer play at the gathering. The latter claimed to have “art-washed” the organizers in a lengthy statement.
LVRA shared via Instagram: “Having spent the last several weeks in talks with the music team at SXSWL, I will be boycotting. This is also in solidarity with other acts who have already boycotted the festival.”
The artist continued, “The conference team were booking speakers from various organizations deeply complicit in the current genocide of Palestinian people, while the music team were putting together a diverse, ‘cool’ line-up. Palantir, an IDF supplier of weapons technology, Barclays, and politicians like Tony Blair and David Cameron were among those involved. This qualifies as “art-washing.”
The event was then followed by a number of other negative comments, including “inaccessible pricing” that targets marginalized groups and an “exploitative business model.” After learning about Cameron and Blair’s planned involvement, LVRA confirmed some “productive conversations” that resulted in the removal of Palantir’s CTO and Barclays’ Head of Sponsorship, but they later announced their withdrawal.
Due to the involvement of the prime ministers and Kate O’Brien, who is a member of the NATO Innovation Fund, Sam Akpro also announced his withdrawal in a statement. Akpro claimed in a statement that the festival was “using us smaller and minority artists to push ideologies and information that I do not align with.”
Heartworms, who was scheduled to play Hoxton Hall on June 7, canceled her show and thanked fans for their understanding. “I won’t be performing at SXSW London this weekend for what I hope are fairly obvious reasons. I stand with those who have already done the same,” she said.
In a statement to NME, a SXSW London spokesperson said: “As one of the world’s largest festivals across tech, music and the creative industries, SXSW London respects everyone’s views and positions and aims to create an open, diverse space for debate and discussion.”
Blair spoke at the conference’s opening day about how AI can make government’s better alongside Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle. Blair said it was an “enormous honour and pleasure” to share the stage with Kyle, saying the MP is “one of the people I admire most in politics”.
Blair made fun of Kyle by saying, “I hope that doesn’t hurt your political career too much, Pete.” David Cameron took the stage for a discussion titled “A Healthcare Revolution” on the second day of the conference.
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Source: Mirror
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