Feist Pulls Out Of Arcade Fire Tour After Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Frontman Feist

A Pitchfork investigation published last week alleged that the 42-year-old singer-guitarist of the Canadian indie rock band took advantage of age gaps and bigotry with four people. Three women, aged 18 to 23 at the time, alleged that Butler sent unwanted sexual messages between 2015 and 2020. A fourth person, unnamed, claimed Butler sexually assaulted them twice in 2015, when she was 21 and he was 34. Pitchfork saw screenshots of text and Instagram messages between Butler and the four pseudonymous subjects and interviewed friends and members of the family who recalled being told the alleged incidents. Butler denied the allegations and said the relationships were consensual, adding in a statement: “It is deeply revisionist and frankly wrong to suggest otherwise.” “In a pub in Dublin after rehearsing with my band, I read the same headline you did,” Feist wrote in a lengthy statement posted to her social media accounts. “We had no time at all to prepare for what was coming, let alone an opportunity to decide not to fly across the ocean into the belly of this situation.” Allow Instagram content? This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is uploaded, as it may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click Allow and Continue. “It was incredibly difficult for me and I can only imagine how much harder it was for the people who came forward. More than anything, I wish healing for those involved.” He added that the Pitchfork article “opened up a conversation that’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than my songs, and it’s certainly bigger than any rock ‘n’ roll tour… Staying on the tour would represent either defending or ignoring the damage that Win has done Butler and to leave would mean I was judge and jury.’ The 46-year-old singer said she was “never here to support or with Arcade Fire – I was here to stand on a stage, a place I’ve grown to feel like I belong and I’ve earned it as my own. “There is no single path to healing when you have endured any version of the above, and no single path to rehabilitating perpetrators,” he said. “It can be a lonely road to understand mistreatment. I can’t solve it by quitting, and I can’t solve it by staying. But I can’t go on.” Following the complaints, radio stations in Canada and the US began pulling the band’s songs from their playlists. Commentators on social media urged fans to boycott the upcoming concerts in Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and elsewhere, with many surprised the tour was going ahead at all. Asked for comment by a Guardian reporter at the band’s Dublin gig this week, an Arcade Fire reporter would only say that the band will continue to tour in support of their new album, We. In her statement, Feist distanced herself from public shaming, which “may spark action, but those actions are done out of fear, and fear is not where we find our best selves or make our best decisions. Fear does not accelerate empathy, or healing, or open up a safe space for these kinds of conversations to take place or for real responsibility and remorse to be offered to the people who have been harmed.” In a statement to Pitchfork, Butler, who is married to bandmate Régine Chassagne, acknowledged that he had sexual interactions with each of the four people, but said they were not initiated by him and were consensual. In a further statement, he apologized “to anyone I hurt with my behavior”, adding: “I continue to learn from my mistakes and work hard to become a better person, someone my son can be proud of. […] I regret not being more aware and attuned to the effect I have on people – I screwed up, and while it is no excuse, I will continue to look forward and heal what can be healed and learn from past experiences. “ Noting that she is “imperfect” and will “imperfectly navigate this decision,” Feist concluded that “the best way to take care of my band and crew and my family is to step away from this tour, not this discussion. The last two nights on stage, my songs made that decision for me. Hearing them through that lens was inconsistent with what I’ve worked to clarify for myself throughout my career. “I’ve always written songs to express my own subtle struggles, to aspire to be my best, and to take responsibility when I need to. And I’m claiming my responsibility now and I’m going home.”

title: “Feist Pulls Out Of Arcade Fire Tour After Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Frontman Feist Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-22” author: “Cindy Demmer”

A Pitchfork investigation published last week alleged that the 42-year-old singer-guitarist of the Canadian indie rock band took advantage of age gaps and bigotry with four people. Three women, aged 18 to 23 at the time, alleged that Butler sent unwanted sexual messages between 2015 and 2020. A fourth person, unnamed, claimed Butler sexually assaulted them twice in 2015, when she was 21 and he was 34. Pitchfork saw screenshots of text and Instagram messages between Butler and the four pseudonymous subjects and interviewed friends and members of the family who recalled being told the alleged incidents. Butler denied the allegations and said the relationships were consensual, adding in a statement: “It is deeply revisionist and frankly wrong to suggest otherwise.” “In a pub in Dublin after rehearsing with my band, I read the same headline you did,” Feist wrote in a lengthy statement posted to her social media accounts. “We had no time at all to prepare for what was coming, let alone an opportunity to decide not to fly across the ocean into the belly of this situation.” Allow Instagram content? This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is uploaded, as it may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click Allow and Continue. “It was incredibly difficult for me and I can only imagine how much harder it was for the people who came forward. More than anything, I wish healing for those involved.” He added that the Pitchfork article “opened up a conversation that’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than my songs, and it’s certainly bigger than any rock ‘n’ roll tour… Staying on the tour would represent either defending or ignoring the damage that Win has done Butler and to leave would mean I was judge and jury.’ The 46-year-old singer said she was “never here to support or with Arcade Fire – I was here to stand on a stage, a place I’ve grown to feel like I belong and I’ve earned it as my own. “There is no single path to healing when you have endured any version of the above, and no single path to rehabilitating perpetrators,” he said. “It can be a lonely road to understand mistreatment. I can’t solve it by quitting, and I can’t solve it by staying. But I can’t go on.” Following the complaints, radio stations in Canada and the US began pulling the band’s songs from their playlists. Commentators on social media urged fans to boycott the upcoming concerts in Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and elsewhere, with many surprised the tour was going ahead at all. Asked for comment by a Guardian reporter at the band’s Dublin gig this week, an Arcade Fire reporter would only say that the band will continue to tour in support of their new album, We. In her statement, Feist distanced herself from public shaming, which “may spark action, but those actions are done out of fear, and fear is not where we find our best selves or make our best decisions. Fear does not accelerate empathy, or healing, or open up a safe space for these kinds of conversations to take place or for real responsibility and remorse to be offered to the people who have been harmed.” In a statement to Pitchfork, Butler, who is married to bandmate Régine Chassagne, acknowledged that he had sexual interactions with each of the four people, but said they were not initiated by him and were consensual. In a further statement, he apologized “to anyone I hurt with my behavior”, adding: “I continue to learn from my mistakes and work hard to become a better person, someone my son can be proud of. […] I regret not being more aware and attuned to the effect I have on people – I screwed up, and while it is no excuse, I will continue to look forward and heal what can be healed and learn from past experiences. “ Noting that she is “imperfect” and will “imperfectly navigate this decision,” Feist concluded that “the best way to take care of my band and crew and my family is to step away from this tour, not this discussion. The last two nights on stage, my songs made that decision for me. Hearing them through that lens was inconsistent with what I’ve worked to clarify for myself throughout my career. “I’ve always written songs to express my own subtle struggles, to aspire to be my best, and to take responsibility when I need to. And I’m claiming my responsibility now and I’m going home.”