CMAT joins boycott of Latitude 2024 due to Barclaycard sponsorship: “I will not allow my music to get into bed with violence”

nme.com:

CMAT has announced that she has pulled out of Latitude 2024 over the festival’s sponsorship with Barclays and its ties to Israel.The Irish singer-songwriter took to her official Instagram account to share a statement explaining why she had decided to not perform at the Suffolk Music Festival.

She used a photo of her attending the festival back in 2021 as the background photo of her post.She began her statement by pointing out how Barclays is the festival’s main sponsor, and discussing its connections to ongoing war in Gaza.“You may or may not be aware, but Latitude’s main sponsor is Barclays bank, who have been revealed to I have increased their financing of various companies who are supplying weapons and military technology to Israel.

Specifically, it has invested over £100 Million into General Dynamics which provides gun systems to the fighter jets which are being used by Israel to bombard Gaza,” began her statement.CMAT – real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson – went on to reveal she had made her decision to pull out of Latitude weeks ago but hoped that with the boycott of The Great Escape, Latitude would go on to find a new sponsor. “It has been made clear to me that it will not happen.”“I will not allow my precious work, my music, which I love so much, to get into bed with violence.

Myself, and the entire CMAT touring crew who I love so much, refuse to be complicit in genocide,” she wrote.A post shared by cmat (@cmatbaby)She continued: “I want to say now utterly devastated i am that it has come to this.