BY LUCY CAULKETT
East London boyband, E17, have pulled out of a Brexit gig in Birmingham.
An evening of music(BP op Live”) at the Genting Arena had been arranged by Campaign group Leave.EU had organized “BPop Live, for June 19- four days before the EU referendum.
E17 had been scheduled to perform at the pro Brexit gig, alongside acts such as Alesha Dixon, Five and Sister Sledge, in what was expected to be an exciting evening for all in attendance. The eye of media.com heard that acts on different side of the spectrum were very much looking forward to the occasion until news of the political agenda came to light; effectively leading to some of the acts being aborted to the disappointment of organizers.
Familiar speakers on the “leave” side of the referendum debate, included Ukip leader Nigel Farage were expected to feature and seize the platform to push their agenda on the hot EU referendum topic. However, all musicians, including East 17, withdrew from the event and canceled their performances after discovering the political nature of the gig.
CONTROVERSY
Aleisha Dixon, already caught up in controversy recently, backed out following discovery of the political nature of the event. Drum and bass act Sigma pulled out and told Buzzfeed they are “in no way supporting the event” because of its political association to the EU referendum.The Brexit gig in Birmingham may now be a flop in comparison to the line up that have pulled out because of their disappointment in the covert plan.
Earlier on Tuesday, Five had announced two of its members Ritchie Neville and Scott Robinson had canceled their performance. East 17 also canceled yesterday afternoon, though Leave.EU campaign founder and Ukip donor, Arron Banks plans to find another line up to keep the gig alive. The E17 boy band was formed in the 90’s, consisting of original member, John Hardy, Terry Coldwell, and recent addition, Terry Craig. The group achieved 18 top 20 singles and 5, top 10, selling 20 million copies in the twilight of their music career. They were a force in the 90’s, but their appeal have waned over the years, though they are still a draw of some sort.
BAD
It was very bad of the organizers to fail to inform acts of the real object of the evening gig’ the sort of distasteful unprofessional conduct we all resent, though not so surprising when coming from politicians. The plan to set up a gig with artists as a line up, was clearly designed to give their campaign a boost, but the artist deserved the right to know about this, as it could have given the impression that they were endorsing the agenda of Farage and his boys, when they had not consented with it. Some of the acts may indeed have been supporters of Brexit, but in failing to inform them in advance, the feeling was one of exploitation and deceit, in stark contrast to the air of collaboration and support being designed by the organizers.