Lana calls off show in Israel after backlash
LANA DEL Rey has cancelled a scheduled performance in Israel following protests from fans and calls for a cultural boycott from activists.
The American singer faced a backlash after she joined the line-up of the inaugural Meteor Festival, which will take place from September 6 to September 8.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Friday she said she would be rescheduling her appearance.
“It’s important to me to perform in both Palestine and Israel and treat all my fans equally,” she wrote.
“Unfortunately it hasn’t been possible to line up both visits with such short notice and therefore I’m postponing my appearance at the Meteor Festival until a time when I can schedule visits for both my Israeli and Palestinian fans, as well as hopefully other countries in the region.”
Initially she had defended her decision to appear at the festival, tweeting that performing in Israel “is not a political statement”, nor was it an endorsement of the policies of the country’s government.
“If you don’t agree with it I get it. I see both sides. We don’t always agree with the politics of the places we play within or even in our own country,” she said last week.
“I would like to remind you that performing in Tel Aviv is not a political statement or a commitment to the politics there, just as singing here in California doesn’t mean my views are in alignment with my current government’s opinions or sometimes inhuman actions.
“I’m just stating that I’m a simple singer, I’m doing my best to navigate the waters of the constant tumultuous hardships in the war-torn countries all over the world that I travel through monthly.”
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which had been one of the groups to pressure the singer into cancelling, welcomed Lana del Rey’s decision to withdraw.
Calls for international performers to boycott Israel are commonplace. In December, New Zealand singer Lorde cancelled a scheduled appearance in Tel Aviv, making the decision following what she said was “a lot of discussions with people holding many views”.
In 2014 Lana Del Rey cancelled a show in Israel as a result of the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Brian Eno, Roger Waters and Peter Gabriel are well-known advocates of a cultural boycott, while other artists, such as Radiohead and Nick Cave, have resisted calls to cancel concerts.