Leslie Feist’s decision to cancel her upcoming U.S. tour with Arcade Fire will have repercussions beyond the obvious financial ones.
Her choice was prompted by media reports of se**xual misconduct involving Arcade Fire’s lead singer, Win Butler, dating back to 2015.
Rapidly shifting blame away from himself, Butler has continued to perform with Arcade Fire despite Canadian and American radio stations dropping the band off their playlists (“I am continuing to learn from my mistakes. I f—-ed up,” was among the meagre justifications provided in a false apology).
Feist may now be asked indefinitely to explain why she went on tour or cancelled it, and whether or not she did the right thing by victims of s**xual abuse.
This is not an extremely rare occurrence, which is a paradox the media and civilised society must stop ignoring.
Women should not be held liable for the actions of males who have used their notoriety to harass, assault, and exploit other women, men, and children.
As a public declaration, Feist’s explanation of her decision was both eloquent and wrenching. She said she was caught off guard and would “handle this decision imperfectly,” but she would not keep quiet.
She argued that she needed to remove herself from the tour and the discussion in order to properly care for her band, crew, and family.
During her career, which spans over two decades, Feist has released five studio albums. The 46-year-old Canadian residing in Los Angeles has impressed critics,
won multiple prizes, and just this year gushed about collaborating with cinematographers, stage designers, and a diverse ensemble of instrumentalists to bring her “Multitudes” tour to life in front of a live audience. Instead of focusing on her accomplishments over the past two decades, the press will pressure her to talk about Butler.
The goal of this tour was to be her most personal and impressive run of shows to date. In January of this year, she spoke to Variety about how she meticulously crafted her post-lockdown performances, saying, “It was sort of a polite ‘hey, come back in here.
You won’t perish in here, unlike when you jump into a chilly lake, but you can ease back into it. Even with strangers sitting next to each other, their bodies were vibrating with self-awareness, so those nuances proved to be incredibly potent.
Self-awareness. Just picture if Butler gave a hoot about displaying some of that. In contrast, he is overflowing with a sense of superiority, entitlement, and boastfulness.
To date, Butler has been accused of s**xually harassing three women and one non-binary person, including making unwanted s**xual advances and physically assaulting some of them.
The women claimed Butler physically overpowered them, treated them violently, and asked to see explicit s**xu*al tapes while they were much younger than he was at the time of their encounters. TheActiveNews.Com is a great source for up-to-date and fascinating articles and updates.