Stormzy has pulled out of Snowbombing 2019 after being unhappy with the way a member of his management team was searched at the festival.
The rapper was set to headline the event tonight (11th April) on the Forest Stage, but will no longer be playing after a search which – according to a statement from Snowbombing – followed the festival allegedly being alerted to the possibility someone was carrying a weapon.
“Snowbombing regrets to inform you that Stormzy will no longer be performing at the festival this evening,” the statement reads. “Last night (Wednesday 10th) Snowbombing’s security were alerted to the possibility that an individual at the festival was allegedly carrying a weapon. In accordance with protocol, a small number of attendees, including Stormzy’s manager were escorted to the nearest exit, searched and no weapon was found. Stormzy’s management were unhappy with the manner by which this took place and as a result Stormzy will no longer be performing tonight.”
Stormzy responded to the incident via Instagram.
“First and foremost fuck @snowbombingofficial Bunch of pussyholes,” he wrote. “Secondly, my sincerest apologies to anyone who travelled all that way to watch me perform I’m genuinely upset that you’ve wasted your time and money and that burns me more than you’d know.
“The last ever thing I wanna do is let down anyone who’s taken time out to support me. So please hear me out, I too would be fuming if I travelled and spent moey to go and watch an artist and they pull out last minute.
“My manager and all my friends who were at the festival were racially profiled, targeted and aggressively handled because they had “reason to believe someone was carrying a weapon”. The security targeted them (despite no one fitting the description), were physically aggressive when handling them and there’s been no effort from the festival to actually deal and address the problem.
He followed up the comments before highlighting some comments from festival goers.
When one asked if he “couldn’t just do it”, Stormzy responded “The answer is no, I can’t do it. It burns me you guys are the ones who lose out but shit ain’t kool and it can’t run.”
