Lily Allen Calls Out Wireless Festival Over Lack of Women Performers

London's Wireless Festival had five women performers in 2017, and for some reason, in 2018, decided to book even less women.

January 23, 2018

Lily Allen took to Twitter on Tuesday to challenge Wireless Festival—which takes place in London's Finsbury Park from July 6 to 8—over its scarcity of women performers. “The struggle is real,” she wrote, with an edited image of the festival lineup for all three days. In her version of the flyer, all the acts had been erased except for the women performers, which only included Mabel, Cardi B, and Lisa Mercedez.

When another user replied “What are you saying,” to Allen’s flyer, she replied, “That wireless have booked 3 women over 3 days of festival.” There are zero women performing on Saturday.

Allen took heat from some users. There was one in particular who basically told her that being a woman “does not entitle you to anything.” Another user, @Deebiosi, asserted that Allen never looked out for women of color or the marginalized in the beginning of her career, and posited that now that she’s “woke,” she cares.

Twitter user @imbadatlife actually posted the edited version of the flyer before Allen on Tuesday, with the caption, “Wireless festival without the men is… not great.”

According to Refinery29, Wireless Festival was called out for the lack of women in its lineup in 2017, which included five acts: Zara Larsson, Noname, Stefflon Don, Yuna, and The Age of L.U.N.A., which has a woman singer, Daniella Thomas. It’s pretty ridiculous that the festival would follow with less women performers in 2018.