A petition to ban Action Bronson actually worked.
The petition, started by a Canadian woman named Erica Shiner, took exception to the lyrics and imagery that Bronson projected. The organizers pulled the Queens-bred rapper from the NXNE festival after initially supporting him.
The petition quickly soared to over 40,000 people.
“The content of his music glorifies raping and murdering women. It is completely inappropriate that an artist like this be hosted at a venue owned and operated by the City of Toronto, as part of a festival which is funded by various levels of government. It demonstrates that NXNE, the City of Toronto, and Vans Footwear turn a blind eye to rape culture and violence against women. He should not be given a voice through the support of any of the aforementioned groups,” said Shinger in a statement.
While they initially supported Bronson, the furor caused them to pull his entire set based on the protest and boycott.
A significant number of Torontonians have indicated their desire to have Action Bronson not perform at the Square. As annual guests in this space we feel we must accede to the strong wishes of the community and honour their input. As a result, we will not be presenting Action Bronson at Yonge-Dundas Square but, hopefully we will still be presenting Action Bronson as part of Northby.
They stated that they did not want to censor Bronson’s art.
We are not moving the Action show because we believe in censoring him or any other artists. In fact, we find the limiting of artistic expression distasteful. When artistic expression is limited, freedom and the evolution of ideas is often the casualty.”
Click here for the full statement.