Singer Lana del Rey has scrapped her upcoming performance in Israel after struggling to set up another show in Palestine to appease fans on both sides of the political conflict.
Lana Del Rey recently sparked a backlash after joining the line-up for the inaugural Meteor Festival in Tel Aviv next week (06-08Sep18), as activists supportive of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls for a cultural boycott of Israel, urged her to reconsider the booking.
Lana initially tried to defend her decision by insisting it had nothing to do with politics or picking sides in the long-running conflict between the two nations, but days later, she returned to social media and promised to make amends by visiting Palestine too, before the scheduled Israeli show on 7 September (18).
However, on Friday (31Aug18) she announced her hopes of making stops in both countries have been dashed as she has been unable to make the schedule work.
As a result, Lana has chosen to pull out of the Meteor Festival headlining set, and delay her first gig in Israel until a later date.
“It’s important to me to perform in both Palestine and Israel and treat all my fans equally,” she wrote in a note on Twitter.
“Unfortunately it hasn’t been possible to line up both visits with such short notice and therefore I’m postponing my appearance at the Meteor Festival until a time when I can schedule visits for both my Israeli and Palestinian fans, as well as hopefully other countries in the region.”
The Meteor Festival is still scheduled to go ahead as planned, with acts including Kamasi Washington, Flying Lotus, Pusha T, and Soulwax on the bill, but organisers have made it clear they do not appreciate the late change of heart, accusing Lana of using the event to increase her media profile.
“Just got the word that Lana will be a no-show at Meteor,” began a sarcastic statement issued to Pitchfork.com. “We do appreciate her for choosing meteor to help her score some press attention.”
The musician has yet to respond to the snarky remark.
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