The organisers of Sydney’s BAD Friday music festival have hit back at critics concerned over the decision to bill controversial act Sticky Fingers as secret headliners.
Matt and Dan Rule countered the band’s detractors in a Facebook post, referencing “the endless stream of utter lies that gets peddled out” about Sticky Fingers and the “clowns asking for a statement” about the band’s return after a year-long hiatus.
“It made absolute sense for them to headline BAD FRIDAY 9, as they take their first steps back from what we know has been the most difficult year of their professional and personal lives,” the post said.
Sticky Fingers made its return to the festival stage on Good Friday over a year after frontman Dylan Frost announced he would be stepping back from the act to seek treatment for mental illness and alcohol abuse.
That announcement was preceded by public allegations of racial abuse levelled against members of the band. Those same allegations spurred opposition to Sticky Fingers’ return in the first place – and users have echoed those sentiments on the latest Facebook post, too.
“You can do all the damage control you want everyone knows sticky fingers is full of abusive racists,” one commenter wrote.
“You are simply allowing abuse to continue and trying to blame victims,” said another.
The decision to include the band as a secret headliner despite their admitted importance to the festival has also been criticised, with one commenter writing “SECRETLY headlining a band known for their ABUSE to an all INCLUSIVE SAFE SPACE is absolutely disgusting and is a sheer abuse of your platform in the music industry”.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has contacted Sticky Fingers for comment on the allegations.
