Stormzy has pulled out of Snowbombing Festival, after accusing the event of "racial profiling".
The ‘Big For Your Boots’ rapper was due to take to the stage at the Austrian festival on Thursday (11.04.19), but cancelled his appearance just hours before he was due to perform, after alleging his manager and friends were stopped by security because they had "reason to believe someone was carrying a weapon".
In a post on his Instagram story, he wrote: "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."
Stormzy, 25, then went on to add that he wouldn’t be performing at the festival in order to "make a point against racism and racial profiling".
He continued: "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 money to go and watch an artist and they pull out last minute.
"However 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."
Snowbombing Festival has released a statement on the incident, claiming security was simply follow "protocol", but said they were "doing everything" they can to sort the situation.
The statement read: "Snowbombing regrets to inform you that Stormzy will no longer be performing at the festival this evening.
"Last night (Wednesday 10) 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.
"This evening’s Forest Party will now not go ahead as planned. We are deeply saddened that any individual would feel uncomfortable at Snowbombing.
"Snowbombing would like to wholeheartedly apologise to Stormzy’s team. 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."
Stormzy cancels Snowbombing appearance over racial profiling allegations
