The Blessed Madonna cancels Boardmasters set due to "restrictions" on political messaging
The US DJ said she was asked to sign a ‘Show Stop Procedure Acknowledgement’ just hours before her scheduled show over the weekend
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The Blessed Madonna pulled out from the line-up of Boardmasters over the weekend, claiming that the festival set “restrictions” on political messaging during performances.
The US DJ said in a statement on Instagram that her team was made aware of a ‘Show Stop Procedure Acknowledgement’ in the early hours of Saturday, August 9, the same day her set was due to go ahead.
She claimed that she would be “subject to a show-stop procedural agreement related to certain political messaging”, and would be required to “keep political or symbolic elements of my set within the guidelines of the festival and government prior to the show”.
The agreement allegedly said that “any political statements, chants, or gestures will be observed, but the show will only be stopped if there is a legal or safety breach.”
“In this email, they framed Palestine Action, an activist group banned in the UK, as equal to murderous terrorists and amongst banned symbols of hate on the same day that Netanyahu has sworn to completely ethnically cleanse Gaza city,” she claimed.
Announcing her removal from the line-up as a result, The Blessed Madonna then promised to "make it right" with anyone who had purchased tickets to see her set by giving away guestlist to another show, a T-shirt, or “something else very special”.
“There is nothing that I want to do more than dance with you,” she said. “I listened to my heart to make this decision and it said: I ain’t signing shit. Free Palestine.”
Ahead of their performance at Boardmasters 2025, which took place from August 8 - 10, Bristol punk band The Menstrual Cramps also pulled out from the line-up, citing the inclusion of Israeli surfers at this year’s event.
They also claimed that the festival had not met demands laid out by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), writing in a statement: “We cannot and will not look the other way.”
Following a criminal investigation into their recent Glastonbury performance, Bob Vylan took to the stage at Boardmasters over the weekend, saying they “will not be silenced – we dare to say, ‘fuck the Israeli government and their crimes of genocide that they are committing’.”
Article Originally Posted on www.mixmag.net