SXSW Drops U.S. Army and Weapons Manufacturers as Sponsors After Pro-Palestinian Protests at 2024 Festival
variety.comSelome Hailu South by Southwest will not receive sponsorship from the U.S. Army for its 2025 festival, a decision made after multiple pro-Palestinian protests and boycotts earlier this year. “After careful consideration, we are revising our sponsorship model,” reads a statement on the SXSW website.
The announcement also notes that “companies who engage in weapons manufacturing” will no longer be SXSW sponsors, which would exclude 2024 sponsor Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of RTX (formerly Raytheon).
Several music acts dropped out of the 2024 SXSW lineup in response to the Army sponsorship, citing the U.S. military’s relationship with Israel during the ongoing war in Gaza.
Among the protestors was the Irish group Kneecap, who wrote that the “significant financial impact” they’d incur by boycotting “isn’t an iota of hardship when compared with the unimaginable suffering being inflicted every minute of every day on the people of Gaza.” Texas governor Greg Abbott criticized the boycotts on X, writing, ““Bands pull out of SXSW over U.S.
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