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Feist pulls out of Arcade Fire tour following sexual misconduct allegations against Win Butler

By | Published on Friday 2 September 2022

Feist

Feist has pulled out of tour dates with Arcade Fire, saying that she “can’t continue” in light of sexual misconduct allegations made against the band’s frontman, Win Butler.

In a statement posted on her website, she said that she had learned of the allegations against Butler last weekend as they were published by Pitchfork, and had already been in Dublin for the first show of the tour, leaving her without “any time to prepare for what was coming let alone a chance to decide not to fly across the ocean into the belly of this situation”.

She found herself in circumstances, she says, where “to stay on tour would symbolise I was either defending or ignoring the harm caused by Win Butler and to leave would imply I was the judge and jury”.

At the first show of the tour in Dublin on Tuesday, she performed but also announced that she would be donating all proceeds from merch sales to Women’s Aid Dublin.

But now she has decided to leave the tour entirely, saying: “My experiences include the same experiences as the many people I have spoken to since the news broke on Saturday, and the many strangers whom I may only be able to reach with this letter, or not at all. We all have a story within a spectrum ranging from baseline toxic masculinity to pervasive misogyny to actually being physically, psychologically, emotionally or sexually assaulted”.

“This situation touches each of our lives and speaks to us in a language unique to each of our processing. There isn’t a singular path to heal when you’ve endured any version of the above, nor a singular path to rehabilitate the perpetrators. It can be a lonely road to make sense of ill treatment. I can’t solve that by quitting, and I can’t solve it by staying. But I can’t continue”.

“I’m imperfect and I will navigate this decision imperfectly, but what I’m sure of is the best way to take care of my band and crew and my family is to distance myself from this tour, not this conversation”, she concludes.

“The last two nights on stage, my songs made this decision for me. Hearing them through this lens was incongruous with what I’ve worked to clarify for myself through my whole career. I’ve always written songs to name my own subtle difficulties, aspire to my best self and claim responsibility when I need to. And I’m claiming my responsibility now and going home”.

In a subsequent statement, Arcade Fire said: “We are very sorry to see Leslie go home, but completely understand and respect her decision”.

The allegations against Butler were made in an article published by Pitchfork last week. Three women say that he engaged in “inappropriate” relationships with them, while a fourth person, who is gender fluid, alleges that he sexually assaulted them twice.

In a statement, issued through a crisis PR rep, Butler did not deny that any of the relationships had occurred, but said that all had been “consensual”, and that his wife and bandmate Régine Chassagne had been aware of them. However, he added that, after spending “the last few years” in therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous, he had become “more aware now of how my public persona can distort relationships even if a situation feels friendly and positive to me”.

However, he insisted: “I have never touched a woman against her will, and any implication that I have is simply false. I vehemently deny any suggestion that I forced myself on a woman or demanded sexual favours. That simply, and unequivocally, never happened”.

Butler’s wife and bandmate Régine Chassagne supported him, saying: “I know what is in his heart, and I know he has never, and would never, touch a woman without her consent and I am certain he never did. He has lost his way and he has found his way back. I love him and love the life we have created together”.

The band are now on a tour of the UK, Europe, US and Canada that is set to stretch into December. They are next due to perform at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena tonight.



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