‘Difficult to accept’: Bluesfest removes Sticky Fingers from lineup following boycotts

Bluesfest has announced that controversial Sydney band Sticky Fingers will no longer play at its 2023 event, after some artists cancelled their performances.

Sticky Fingers frontman Dylan Frost, who has previously been accused of threatening behaviour. Source: Getty / Mark Horton/WireImage

KEY POINTS

• Bluesfest organisers have confirmed Sticky Fingers will not perform at this year's festival.
• It comes after two acts withdrew from the festival over Sticky Fingers' inclusion in the lineup.
• Bluesfest said the decision to remove Sticky Fingers was "difficult to accept".

Bluesfest has removed Sticky Fingers from its line-up after two acts decided to boycott the festival over the Australian band's inclusion.

Melbourne rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and singer Sampa the Great last week announced their withdrawal from the Easter long weekend festival in Byron Bay due to the controversy surrounding Sticky Fingers' lead singer, Dylan Frost.

In 2016, Indigenous singer-songwriter Thelma Plum accused Frost of threatening behaviour towards her. He later apologised.

Sticky Fingers, from Sydney's inner west, announced a hiatus from 2017, with Frost revealing he was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia and would be attending rehabilitation and therapy.

Joey Walker (L) and Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. The Melbourne rock band last week announced they would boycott Bluesfest after Sticky Fingers was announced as part of the extended lineup. Source: Getty / Rick Kern

Bluesfest’s organisers said in a statement on Tuesday that the festival "sadly" could not continue to support the Australian rock band.

"We apologise to those artists, sponsors, and any others we involved in this matter through our mistaken believes that forgiveness and redemption are the rock on which or society is built," the statement read.

"The narrative that they continue to deserve to be cancelled, as well as anyone who publicly supports them, is difficult to accept, wherein a portion of society and media passes eternal judgement toward those, in this case, a diagnosed mentally ill person whom we fell doesn't deserve the continued public scrutiny he's been given."

Last week, Bluesfest director Peter Noble defended the band's inclusion in the Bluesfest lineup.

In a statement, he referred to a social media comment which noted Frost's remorse for former behaviour and efforts to manage alcohol abuse and mental health issues.

"I believe an attempt to victimise this man and his band in the circumstances is cruel and unforgiving," he said last week.

"This cruelty and lack of compassion are foreign to my values, as is the attempt to suppress the band's artistic expression for entirely inoffensive works.

"I was and remain proud to give the band a chance at rehabilitation."

Sampa The Great also announced she would cancel her Bluesfest appearance over Sticky Fingers' inclusion. Source: Instagram / Sampa The Great / Instagram

It came after King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announced it was cancelling its appearance, saying it stood against misogyny, racism, transphobia and violence.

"Surprised and saddened to see Bluesfest commit to presenting content that is in complete opposition to these values," the six-piece rock band wrote on social media, without referring to Sticky Fingers directly.

"We are deeply disappointed to be in this position but sometimes you need to be willing to make sacrifices to stand up for your values."

Two days later, representatives for Sampa the Great said she would also withdraw after she was announced as part of the festival's extended lineup, along with Sticky Fingers.

SBS News has contacted Sticky Fingers' management for comment.