Joe & The Shitboys accuse The Great Escape of “ethnocentric bullying” for dropping the Faroe Islands as country partner

nme.com:

Joe & The Shitboys have accused The Great Escape of “ethnocentric bullying” after the festival dropped the Faroe Islands as its lead country partner over concerns over its whaling practices.The festival, held in Brighton and Hove each May, announced yesterday (September 24) that they would be withdrawing the Faroe Islands as their lead country partner – having only revealed the partnership earlier this month.It followed concerns over whaling in the Faroes – part of the Kingdom of Denmark – by local groups.The festival shared that, though it was dropping the partnership, they were “proud” to have worked with Faroese artists over the years, and would continue to collaborate with musicians from the territory. “We believe the contributions of Faroese artists should not be overshadowed by this matter, which bears no relation to their artistic work or their significant achievements,” they said in a statement shared to Instagram.Now, Faroe Island punk band Joe & The Shitboys have responded to the announcement, calling The Great Escape’s decision “ethnocentric ignorance”, “harmful” and “not inclusive in the slightest”.A post shared by The Great Escape Festival (@greatescapefest)Writing on Instagram today (September 25), frontman Fríði Djurhuus said: “After being reached out to by multiple anti-whaling activists, and the recent decision by The Great Escape to drop the Faroe Islands as their main partner due to our whaling practices, I, Joe, would like to publically state my position on whaling in the Faroe Islands, also known as “the grind.”“I am a Faroese vegan.

Of course I don’t like the grind. But we can’t get rid of the grind without considering what is going to be its replacement.