Rapper Stormzy has pulled out of a festival gig in Austria after a member of his management team was roughed up by event security officials.
The Brit was scheduled to headline Snowbombing 2019 on Thursday night (11Apr19), but the Shut Up rapper has told festival bosses he will be a no-show.
Reports suggest the star pulled out of the show after guards searched an associate following suspicions someone was carrying a weapon.
“Snowbombing regrets to inform you that Stormzy will no longer be performing at the festival this evening,” a statement from festival officials 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.”
Festival chiefs have apologised to the grime star and his associates, stating they were “deeply saddened” that anyone would feel uncomfortable at the festival.
“We are doing everything we can to understand the full situation and are treating this with the utmost seriousness to ensure this does not happen again,” the statement continues.
Angry Stormzy has since responded via Instagram, writing: “First and foremost fuck @snowbombingofficial Bunch of pussyholes. 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.”
He went on to explain, “if these are the drastic steps that I need to take to make a point against racism and racial profiling then trust me I’m taking it.”
Offering up his side of the story, the rap star added: “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.”
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