Bluesfest removes Sticky Fingers from lineup after boycotts and backlash

The Sydney band Sticky Fingers is no longer on the lineup at this year’s Bluesfest after weeks of backlash that saw other artists withdraw from the festival in protest.

Zambian rapper Sampa the Great and Melbourne rockers King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard announced last month they would boycott the five-day festival in Byron Bay over the inclusion of Sticky Fingers, whose lead singer Dylan Frost has been dogged by controversy since allegations about his behaviour arose in 2016.

On Thursday, the music festival’s founder and director Peter Noble announced that Sticky Fingers would “step off” the 2023 lineup.

“Bluesfest cannot, sadly, continue to support Sticky Fingers by having them play our 2023 edition, and we apologise to those artists, sponsors and any others we involved in this matter through our mistaken belief that forgiveness and redemption are the rock on which our society is built,” the statement from Noble said.

“The narrative that they continue to deserve to be cancelled, as well as anyone who publicly supports them, is difficult to accept, wherein a portion of society and media passes eternal judgment toward those, in this case, a diagnosed mentally ill person whom we feel doesn’t deserve the continued public scrutiny he’s being given.”

Noble had previously issued two statements of support for the group, saying he believed the unfair victimisation of Frost and his band had been “cruel and unforgiving”.

“That whole situation happened 7 years ago and the lead singer of Sticky Fingers has been extremely apologetic and open about his bipolar schizophrenia and substance abuse during that time,” Noble wrote on February 21.

Sticky Fingers has been contacted for comment. The band has not commented on the recent controversy. The Guardian has also reached out to Sampa the Great and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard for comment.

Sampa the Great withdrew from the festival in February after learning of Sticky Fingers’ inclusion. Photograph: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Coachella

Sticky Fingers went on a year-long hiatus after allegations surfaced in 2016 that Frost had abused and threatened the musician Thelma Plum and her boyfriend outside a Sydney hotel.

Frost subsequently apologised publicly for his behaviour, citing alcohol addiction and mental health issues as contributing factors.

In the same year, Frost was accused of shouting racist remarks at a gig headlined by an Indigenous punk band. He has since publicly denied these claims and was quoted in reports saying: “Rumours have been spread around suggesting that I’m racist. That is complete bullshit.”

Soon after the band returned to performing, Frost was allegedly ejected from a Sydney pub after a verbal altercation with a transgender person, in which he allegedly screamed and swore at her.

At the time a Sticky Fingers spokesperson did not deny Frost had been asked to leave the hotel, but denied that he had instigated the altercation or threatened violence.

In a statement on Facebook in 2018, Frost wrote: “I am wholeheartedly against racism, and so is the band … I do not condone or in any way excuse violence against women, straight up, I never have and I never will.

“I also have to acknowledge that my alcoholic behaviour in the past has intimidated or made people feel unsafe around me, and I am truly sorry for this.”