In a thoroughly reported investigative piece published over the weekend, Pitchfork brought to light four separate but nearly identical testimonies regarding recent coercive and manipulative behavioral patterns exhibited by Arcade Fire’s Win Butler leading to sexual assault and other non-consensual sexual encounters. In the wake of the band’s recently released album WE, such credible stories came as a bit of a shock to audiences following the album’s continuation of the band’s trajectory from cult indie figures to festival headliners, from relatively niche baroque-pop artists to community-minded, group-therapeutic stadium-rock shaman (their new album, again, was called “we”). It only made it more troubling to learn that several of the victims were targeted through Instagram direct messages after they tagged Butler in photos from his band’s performances.
As this situation re-opens conversations we’ve likely all had in recent years regarding similar situations involving the abuse of power both inside and outside of the music industry, yesterday the focus seemed to turn to Feist, who was slated to kick off a tour with Arcade Fire in Dublin three days after Pitchfork’s piece had been published—and who evidently learned of these accusations against Butler upon seeing the headline in a Dublin pub. After announcing yesterday that she’d planned on donating all merch sale proceeds to a local women’s aid group, she revealed in an Instagram post earlier today that she was dropping off the tour completely. “To stay on tour would symbolize I was either defending or ignoring harm caused by Win Butler and to leave would imply I’m the judge and jury,” she wrote of the impossible situation she’d been placed in by Butler and the band.
The statement reads like a commendably level-headed response to an ever-deepening dilemma regarding the separation of art and artist—or lack thereof—which consequently seems to be leading to conversations that are more and more superficial as the term “cancel culture” grows to include everything from unquestionably serious situations like the one involving Butler to something as trivial as a distasteful tweet resurfaced from celebrity’s teen years. In her statement, though, Feist also pledges to remain engaged in the progress of power dynamics between artists and fans rather than merely making a good PR move. “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.”
Read her full statement below, and see her post here.
