Electronic artist Human Movement has pulled out of the 2020 edition of Rabbits Eat Lettuce Festival claiming that the lineup lacked gender diversity due to its male-dominant artist roster.
Queensland festival Rabbits Eat Lettuce has come under scrutiny with Eddy MacDonald, the Aussie producer behind Human Movement, taking to social media to share his concerns regarding the lack of gender diversity on the current 2020 lineup.
Eddy was booked to play at the November festival however has since pulled out of the lineup to highlight gender inequalities in the low number of female artists performing at the event.
In a post to Facebook and Instagram Eddy wrote, “it is apparent the gender balance of artists on the lineup is way out of whack and to not use my platform to say something it tolerating that exact issue. We can do better as an industry and community.”
The festival whose 2020 lineup includes artists such as Hermitude, Shockone, Opiuo, Late Nite Tuff Guy, Motez, Zeke Beats, Godlands, and more, has come under criticism for not including more female artists on their roster. Currently, the artists on the Rabbits Eat Lettuce lineup comprise of 90% men.
Rabbits Eat Lettuce responded to Eddy’s social media posts by highlighting that they book artists based on their music, not gender.
“We accepted [your booking agent’s] proposal to book you for the festival on the basis of your music and that alone. We think booking an artist based on gender actually contradicts the message you are trying to put out.”
The festival also mentioned how they tried to book two big female artists for the lineup however they both declined their offer.
“Our two biggest offers for the festival happened to be for female artists (Peggy Gou & Maya Jane Coles), who unfortunately declined.”
The event also went on to say the lack of female artists was not because of the festival’s gender bias but because there aren’t many female acts in the industry.
“…when we open the festival’s music applications we only receive about 5% female artists applying.This is just a fact of the market. There are many more aspiring male artists than females pursuing careers in the field at this time.”
“All we can do as event promoters is book artists from the available pool of talent and encourage more females to enter the industry by booking quality female artists when the music alines with our vibe.”
See the full response from Rabbits Eat Lettuce:
The festival also suggested that Human Movement doesn’t “quite have a thorough understanding of the industry and the market.” They then criticized the producer’s approach to remove himself from their lineup, “It’s great you want to push things towards a more balanced state but this might not be the best way to go about it.”
With the music industry already struggling due to the Coronavirus, the festival told Human Movement it was “a shame you don’t feel this is a time to come together to support the music & arts industry that is currently in tatters.”
Most recently Human Movement made a statement saying he has taken in all the varied responses people have had to his removal from the lineup and thanked all the support for his chosen stance on gender inequality.
Eddy said in a new post to Facebook and Instagram that, “stepping out of this line-up is a very small action in the grand scheme of things but hoping that it raises awareness and encourages others to do the same.”
The music festival is still set to go ahead at Landcruiser Mountain Park in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Hinterland from Thursday the 26th November – Sunday the 29th November 2020.