Feist exits Arcade Fire tour amid Win Butler’s sexual assault allegations
The singer opened for the band in Dublin on August 30 and 31
Aux News Feist
Singer-songwriter Feist has officially exited her tour with Arcade Fire as the sexual assault allegations surrounding frontman Win Butler continue to swirl.
“I’m imperfect and I will navigate this decision imperfectly, but what I’m sure of is the best way to take care of my band and crew and my family is to distance myself from this tour, not this conversation,” Feist writes in a statement. “I’m claiming my responsibility now and going home.”
Feist opened for the band over the last two nights in Dublin before announcing her departure on Thursday. The “1234" singer donated all profits from merchandise sales during the two shows to Women’s Aid Dublin.
Representatives for Arcade Fire have previously stated the tour will continue as planned. Singer Beck is currently slated to open for Arcade Fire on their North American tour, with no statement made yet.
At a pub in Dublin, after rehearsing with my band, I read the same headline you did. We didn’t have any time to prepare for what was coming let alone a chance to decide not to fly across the ocean into the belly of this situation. This has been incredibly difficult for me and I can only imagine how much more difficult it’s been for the people who came forward. More than anything I wish healing to those involved.
This has ignited a conversation that is bigger than me, it’s bigger than my songs and it’s certainly bigger than any rock and roll tour. As I tried to get my bearings and figure out my responsibility in this situation, I received dozens of messages from the people around me, expressing sympathy for the dichotomy I have been pushed into. To stay on tour would symbolize I was either defending or ignoring the harm caused by Win Butler and to leave would imply I was the judge and jury.
I was never here to stand for or with Arcade Fire—I was here to stand on my own two feet on a stage, a place I’ve grown to feel I belong and I’ve earned as my own. I play for my band, my crew, their loved ones and all of our families, and the people who pay their hard-earned money to share space in the collective synergy that is a show. The ebb and flow of my successes, failures, and other decisions affect all of our livelihoods and I recognize how lucky I am to be able to travel the world singing songs about my life, my thoughts and experiences and have that be my career. I’ve never taken that for granted.
My experiences include the same experiences as the many people I have spoken to since the news broke on Saturday, and the many strangers whom I may only be able to reach with this letter, or not at all. We all have a story within a spectrum ranging from baseline toxic masculinity to pervasive misogyny to actually being physically, psychologically, emotionally or sexually assaulted. This situation touches each of our lives and speaks to us in a language unique to each of our processing. There isn’t a singular path to heal when you’ve endured any version of the above, nor a singular path to rehabilitate the perpetrators. It can be a lonely road to make sense of ill treatment. I can’t solve that by quitting, and I can’t solve it by staying. But I can’t continue.
Public shaming might cause action, but those actions are made from fear, and fear is not the place we find our best selves or make our best decisions. Fear doesn’t precipitate empathy nor healing nor open a safe space for these kinds of conversations to evolve, or for real accountability and remorse to be offered to the people who were harmed.
I’m imperfect and I will navigate this decision imperfectly, but what I’m sure of is the best way to take care of my band and crew and my family is to distance myself from this tour, not this conversation. The last two nights on stage, my songs made this decision for me. Hearing them through this lens was incongruous with what I’ve worked to clarify for myself through my whole career. I’ve always written songs to name my own subtle difficulties, aspire to my best self and claim responsibility when I need to. And I’m claiming my responsibility now and going home.
Leslie
57 Comments
1234Feist is headed out the door
Feist reads zeitgeist
“…a lengthy saying that the accusers had “sexual interactions with Butler that they came to feel were inappropriate given the gaps in age, power dynamics, and context in which they occurred.”“Three women told Pitchfork that they had “interactions with Butler” when they were between the ages of 18 and 23 and when he was “between 36 and 39,” and a fourth person—who is gender-fluid and uses they/them pronouns—says that Butler “sexually assaulted them twice” in 2015 when he was 34.”
Yeah, I’m not buying any of this, sorry. You can regret having legal, consensual sex, but that doesn’t mean your sex partner did anything wrong.
The dynamics associated with most of the accusations are too nuanced for me to want to unpack, but the fourth accuser says Butler sexually assaulted her twice. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but if it is, it is unambiguously bad.
Uh yeah, it calls it assault now. Back then it was a party…..
Yeah the nonbinary person’s situation seemed the most significant. The other 3 kind of hurt the other accusation by seeming too minor. It’s not as open and shut as some other cases though- which is why Feist’s message and decision to just stay out of it (which is basically what I’m getting from that long message- “I don’t want to be involved”) and see what happens makes sense. Unfortunately there’s a lot of bad behavior within the normal range for straight guys still and a lot of poor communication that leads to unpleasant ‘grey area’ experiences. It’s hard to tell where these allegations will land in the current landscape
Unfortunately there’s a lot of bad behavior within the normal range for straight guys still and a lot of poor communication that leads to unpleasant ‘grey area’ experiences. It’s hard to tell where these allegations will land in the current landscape.The fuck? Yeah, the “current landscape” is the problem as opposed to the not “grey area” at all of men with power continually using their power to prey on young women.
The current landscape isn’t the problem it’s more that your average guy still sucks a lot- not even just men with power. Your average man you’ll meet on a dating app probably has terrible communication skills regarding sex, a lot of ingrained sexist assumptions about women, and the relative anonymity of most other guys sucking an equivalent amount. Some of that isn’t their individual fault it’s that we as a society still suck so much at raising men to not be sexist emotional incompetents. I’m not even sure how much Wyn’s power mattered here- only one of the accusers was definitely a fan and I don’t think that was the main case. This is kind of like the Aziz Ansari case- there are a *lot* of guys who do what Aziz Ansari did (the begging, ye gods the begging). It would be nice if his cancellation had also led to every guy who begs for sex being cancelled but that was probably statistically unlikely
Any of these people could stop talking to this guy, tell him they’re filing a report and call the police. They can simply block him or not answer the door. Don’t meet a guy and have drinks, go for a coffee if it’s business related.
“men with power continually using their power to prey on young women.”Lead singers of bands get infected with fame, and fuck people. Also, people want to fuck them. Remember the dynamics of fame. And rock singers.
I always get sad when I see people starring these kinds of comments.
Seriously, this what AV Club comments are now.
Which ones? Not yours?
Yikes, I hope you don’t say this shit out loud in the real world…
You may be right about persons 1-3, but assault is assault.
Or maybe you are just a toxic fanboy who can’t, at the very least, given the multiple allegations, consider the possibility that Butler is a creepy asshole. He’s even admitting to having relations with these women, FFS.Also, Arcade Fire is derivative, overproduced horseshit.
I bet it’s even worse. I bet the OP doesn’t even like Arcade Fire, but he’s always “in” on a chance to call all women liars whose skirts are too short.
Derivative of whom?
It sounds like you are buying it. You agree with the facts they stated. You just don’t think those facts matter.
I don’t get this Aziz Ansari style backlash. Even if you think “no big deal, the guy is a pig, not a criminal,” fans are well within their right to decide they don’t want to support a celebrity who treats women poorly.
If you prefer to ignore people who treat others poorly in sexual situations, you can continue to do that.
To add to what you’ve said, there are a couple other points about this article that I’ve not seen addressed anywhere, and which make me very suspicious about the motivations behind it.1) The author makes it clear that they’ve been shown multiple DMs by the victims – between themselves and Butler/themselves and their friends – but only ever references them when confirming circumstantial or extraneous details of their relationships with Butler. It never once uses them to corroborate an accusation – even though much of the harassment was said to have transpired via those very same DMs. Every time it mentions an incident of misconduct, it’s ‘so-and-so alleges that’ with no DM evidence cited to back it up.
2) Two of the accusers claim that Butler was exploiting a power dynamic, despite the fact that they had never met in person and weren’t socially, professionally or geographically connected in any way.
Lol you’re a terrible person
Ah hey there. I see that, once again, your ‘cooldown period’ of writing normal comments is over, and you’re back
to the one-line ad homs. I’ve noticed you go through this cycle before. Tell me: is it actual mental illness that’s
causing you to loop like this? Or are the other posts there to fool people into thinking you’re not just a troll, so that they might take your empty posturing seriously?
Lol
Whenever you find yourself wondering about the motivations of someone reporting sexual assault… you can probably just stop doing that.
If I see an article throwing out accusations that don’t meet the bare minimum standard for credibility that I have, then no, I’m not gonna stop doing that. And before you ask, I’m not even asking for proof. I’m just asking that the article in question doesn’t contain things that actively encourage doubt.Also, I was referring to the motivations of Pitchfork/the author, rather than the accusers.
Dude, you truly are, a soft sack. Bravo.
can you read?
they quite clearly are talking about the article.
Jesus Christ, you’re a fucking asshole. That you don’t understand that a way older famous person going after barely “legal” women and manipulating them into sexual relationships is abusive is disgusting enough, without even addressing the violent sexual assault allegations, that you” don’t buy.”
You might find the thought of sleeping with an older star unappealing but there are many women who enthusiastically want to do exactly that.
Jesus Christ shut up
Something being legal is not the same thing as it being ethical, which is something you have understood since you were a child. Being in your thirties and using your fame/wealth to hook up with starstruck college students is legal. It’s also extremely sketchy and unethical. It’s very frustrating that you’re pretending to find this difficult to understand. The Venn diagram of “Win Butler is only guilty of consensual sex between technically legal adults” and “Olivia Wilde deserved to have her career ruined for cheating on Jason Sudekis” is a circle. Wonder what these attitudes have in common…
There is nothing unethical about rock stars sleeping with younger groupies. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that both parties have enthusiastically consented to. In fact, almost by definition, the groupie is the pursuer. Do you really think a 30 year old man should tell an 18 year old woman, “now, now child, I know this is something you think you want, but I’m not going to let it happen because I know what’s actually best for you.”
The thirty-year-old should say “I am not interested.” Being 30 and sleeping with an 18-year-old is ALWAYS creepy and ALWAYS unethical, in any circumstance. It’s far worse when there’s a huge gap in wealth and power.That these ideas are somehow new to you, along with your profoundly disturbing tone of your comment, indicates to me that you are too ignorant and sexist to be taken seriously. Really wish Kinja let you block people.
A lot of times it does, though! Also, do you have anything to say about the alleged sexual assault or, nah, you just ignore that inconvenient shit.
When can we have “the conversation” about how goddamn awkward it is when people are tripping over their own tongues to sound as socially correct as possible?
thats just how canadian talk
Oh dear, without arcade fire you would never have gotten near a big tour like that. Must have been toxic masculinity that helped you secure those gigs I guess.
Excuse me, but Feist has a pretty respectable career of her own. Does Arcade Fire regularly do stuff with the Muppets? No, they do not. Point: Feist.
Man, I miss when you could have Stevie Wonder perform “Superstitious” and it didn’t need Hellmo or a lesson. My 4 and 6 year old loved those episodes on HBO MAX.
Oh, and fuck you David Zazlav.
She has 4 3 2 1 song.
Feist is a big name in her own right. Ya doofus.
“Must have been toxic masculinity that helped you secure those gigs I guess.”I’m impressed by how narrowly you’re technically correct. Like, Trump’s urethra narrow.Less impressed with you the fact the you didn’t think your argument through. Enjoy the self-own.
That’s a lot misogyny to unpack. You clearly don’t know who Feist is. She’s very popular, has toured for almost a couple decades now, has won 12 Juno awards alone, Grammy nominated 4 times, and is just fine, thanks. Why do think Arcade Fire wanted her as an opener in the first place? She’s one of the biggest Canadian artists of all time. I can’t even make sense of your second sentence. Feist saw the allegations against Butler and said, I’m not going to support this, and gave up a huge amount of money from the rest of the tour money. That’s just having, you know, basic morality.
I honestly read that more as a sarcastic “Feist doesn’t need that asshole anyway” comment but I was maybe wrong about the tone.
Finally someone gets it. Still, interesting how one gets insulted if people just dont understand enough and so easily jump to conclusions. Anyway, faith in humanity restored. Take your star.
What is your point?
I liked what I saw someone else write, which was that the real anger inducing series of events is to reword a situation like this to “younger women should not have sex with older successful men because they won’t be able to handle their decision to consent to it later in life” But I always hated the Arcade Fire, so I hope he burns in cancelation hell
Psuedo-Related Side Comment: According to my Pandora algorithms, Feist is the perfect
amalgamation of what music I apparently like. Whenever I create a
station, so matter what artist it starts out as, my various upvotes and
downvotes eventually transform it into a Feist station. I think the most
bizarre example was when it eventually evolved a Feist station out of one that originally started
out based on E.L.O.
I mean, it’s not WRONG, exactly (I do like Feist) but it’s a very weird and specific phenomenon.
Reminds me of that thing with Wikipedia where if you keep clicking on the first link of every entry, regardless of where you start off, you’ll end up on the page for Philosophy every time.
It’s been a minute since I’ve used it, but when Pandora started weighing the song period more—so more songs from the same era show up more–I’ve found their algorithm more predictable. I mean, it’s also right, but it leads/you lead it more.
Boy, that chick loves to bloviate…..
I mean, there used to be a presumption of innocence, no?
The story is about Feist’s decision, communicated articulately with an undeniable compassion, empathy, and humanity for all involved.Internet mostly says fuck that noise and comes out with a bunch of ignorant, defensice, self-centered and self-righteous bullshit.Same as it ever was.
Beck is going to open for Arcade Fire? We’re talking about Beck Hansen, right? Not Beck Bennett?
“[Feist] is braver than ten firemen or a dozen policemen.”
JFC. Men really are lost and drifting. The metoo movement has broken so many brains. Just look at the comments. Any time any woman comes forward now, it’s automatically assumed she’s lying now. Or it’s another excuse to attack “wokeness” or “feminism” or for online armchair sleuths who have zero information about the cases in question to loudly proclaim whether they “buy” the allegations or not.What world are you living in? As if men sexually assaulting women wasn’t absolutely ubiquitous in society. It’s something like 1 in 3 women. But “believe women” is just too much for a lot of men and a depressing number of women it appears as well.