On Friday, August 22, Irish folk band the Mary Wallopers had their set at Portsmouth, England’s Victorious Festival cut short after flying the Palestinian flag onstage and leading a chant of “free Palestine.” Several artists, including the Last Dinner Party, subsequently pulled out of their scheduled performances in protest, and now Vampire Weekend, who are among this year’s headliners, have called out the festival’s organizers.
As reported by Portsmouth News, Ezra Koenig addressed the crowd during Vampire Weekend’s set last night (Saturday, August 23). “If someone was punished for flying a flag, that is wrong and they deserve an apology,” Koenig said. “The terrible suffering of the Palestinian people deserves all of our sympathy.”
Writing to NME, representatives for Victorious originally claimed to have cut off the Mary Wallopers’ sound because they “used a chant which is widely understood to have a discriminatory context.” The band then responded with their own statement alongside footage of the stage during their set: “The festival have released a misleading statement to the press claiming they cut our sound because of a discriminatory chant and not the band’s call to Free Palestine.”
The statement continues: “Our video clearly shows a Victorious crew member coming on stage, interfering with our show, removing the flag from the stage and then the sound being cut following a chant of “Free Palestine.” The same crew member is later heard in the video saying “you aren’t playing until the flag is removed.” Victorious Festival then released a second statement apologizing to the band. Read both in full below.
In June, British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan had their U.S. visas revoked after a controversial Glastonbury set where frontman Bobby Vylan led the crowd in a chant of “Death, death to the IDF.” Irish rap trio Kneecap, whose performance at Coachella 2025 featured pro-Palestine and anti-Israel messages, have since been removed from the lineup of Glasgow’s TRNSMT music festival, banned from Hungary, and had one of their members, Mo Chara, charged with a terror offense for allegedly displaying the Hezbollah flag during a 2024 concert. Both groups are currently being investigated by British police following their sets at Glastonbury this year.
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