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Editors cancel festival appearance due to Russian sponsor [1]
['Joe Taysom']
Date: 2024-07-10 08:29:01+00:00
Editors pull out of Russian-backed festival in Kazakhstan
Editors have pulled out of a planned appearance at a festival in Kazakhstan due to its Russian sponsorship.
Amid the ongoing illegal war in Ukraine, the British band have made the decision to withdraw from Park Live because of its links to Russia. The conflict escalated in 2022, and most recently, many children were wounded during an attack on Okhmatdyt hospital in Ukraine on July 8th.
Earlier this year, Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky revealed the full extent of Russia’s war on Ukraine: “31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, or whatever Putin and his lying circle are saying. But each of these losses is a great loss for us.”
While this number is difficult to verify, the loss of innocent Ukranian life is indisputable. Additionally, over 3.5 million people in Ukraine remain displaced from their homes with a further 6.3 million people seeking refuge abroad, according to The United Nations.
Park Festival is scheduled to go ahead on September 7th, but will no longer feature Editors because of it’s association with Russian technology company, Yandex. Notably, the firm owns a popular search engine, Yandex Search, which is a Russian equivalent to Google.
Earlier this year, Yandex announced plans to pull out of Russia and the Dutch-parent company formerly behind the company sold the business for £4.2 billion, meaning it’s now Russian owned.
In a statement, Editors explained the reasons for withdrawing: “As some people are aware. We have been in talks to play Park Live festival in Almaty, Kazakhstan. However, having now been informed who the sponsor of the event is, we have decided to withdraw our involvement.”
The ‘Munich’ band continued: “We dearly hope to come back to Kazakhstan in the future, under different circumstances. Much love, Editors.”
As it stands, Park Live is still set to go ahead with prominent British acts such as Dizzee Rascal and Placebo scheduled to appear. Other acts include Die Antwoord, Tyga and Oliver Tree.
Editors’ decision to pull out of Park Live comes after festival boycotts in the United Kingdom linked to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Over 100 acts withdrew from The Great Escape in Brighton over its association with Barclays, whose association with Israeli forces came under scrutiny.
Further acts boycotted Download Festival and Latitude, also linked to Barclays, which led to the bank halting its relationship Live Nation UK events. “Following discussion with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will step back from sponsorship of our festivals,” Live Nation UK said.
Meanwhile, a Barclays spokesperson added: “Barclays was asked and has agreed to suspend participation in the remaining Live Nation festivals in 2024. Barclays customers who hold tickets to these festivals are not affected, and their tickets remain valid.”
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[1] Url:
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/editors-pull-out-of-russian-backed-festival-in-kazakhstan/
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