Australian music fans are being asked to “boycott” a list of popular artists who are performing at Melbourne Cup Carnival celebrations at Flemington this week.
The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses posted a “boycott” list to social media yesterday, which included Baker Boy, Sheppard, Birds of Tokyo, Sneaky Sound System and Wafia.
“The following music artists are performing at the Cup Carnival,” the Coalition’s Facebook post read. “If these are artists you follow, maybe consider politely expressing your disappointment in them endorsing animal abuse.”
The acts were announced as part of an “epic” music lineup for the Melbourne Cup Carnival, running from October 29th until November 5th.
Acts will perform at The Park Live Stage across Penfolds Victoria Derby Day, Lexus Melbourne Cup Day, Kennedy Oaks Day and TAB Champions Stakes Day, with entry to The Park free with every Melbourne Cup Carnival ticket.
Band manager Louise Sawilejskij, who responded to the Coalition’s post, asked fans to express their views to these artists, by all means, “but please don’t boycott musicians”.
“There’s a false assumption that some of the bigger names in Australian music that should be choosing not to play at the Melbourne Cup, or that they don’t need the money,” she told Tone Deaf. “Trust me, everyone is struggling. Each artist has people they look after – whether their own family or their staff and teams and their families.
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“Getting through the past few years with bushfires and COVID has been hard enough, now many festivals and events have already been cancelled this season due to floods and bad weather. Literally, hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been lost in artist fees alone in the past few months, with no doubt more occurring over the summer.”
The boycott calls come just weeks after Delta Goodrem was slammed by fans for celebrating her “continued partnership” with Victoria Racing Club ahead of this year’s Melbourne Cup, with people labelling it “cruel” and “disappointing”.
