This Three-Day UK Festival Has Come Under Fire For Its Lack Of Female Performers
Music festivals already don't have the best of reps when it comes to the general treatment of women, with female-only festivals being launched due to disturbingly high sexual assault statistics, so London's Wireless Festival aren't doing themselves any favours. The three-day festival has been criticised for its newly-released line up, which features only three female acts throughout the entire weekend.
The biggest sucker punch came when someone Photoshopped the male acts out of the line-up that was widely promoted as tickets came on sale, showing how many confirmed acts were made up of men. Celebrities including singer Lily Allen and DJ Annie Mac took to social media to blast the event as the only announced acts were Mabel, Cardi B, and Lisa Mercedez.
Even Cardi B, who has broken multiple records as an artist in the past 12 months, was so far down the line-up, it's shocking to think that bookers have merely reduced her to a 20 minute set. Social media responded to the line-up's lack of women with suggested female acts for the festival, with one Twitter user saying: “No SZA or Jhene [Aiko], wild.”
In response to the backlash, Wireless failed to comment with regards to the lack of women on the line-up, but were very quick to point out that “tickets sold out in 24 hours”. It's funny how men (or even women representing men) fail to address the issue at hand, but rather derail the conversation and focus on something else in a poor attempt at handling press nightmares.
Many were quick to jump in and note that this wasn't the festival's line-up in its entirety, but our argument is if more women were prioritised on the main bill, Wireless wouldn't be under fire for their confirmed acts thus far. It's also rather naive for a popular music festival to overlook the current social and political climates and not expect repercussions.
Wireless Fest? More like Sausage Fest.
