sexual assault

Mumford and Sons Vow Not to Play Swedish Festival Where 17 People Were Sexually Assaulted

Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival - Day 3
Mumford & Sons. Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

After headlining Sweden’s biggest music festival over the weekend, where at least 17 people were reportedly sexually assaulted, Mumford and Sons now say they won’t be back. The band has posted a statement on Facebook after learning that there were five reports of rape and 12 reports of sexual assault at this year’s Bravalla Festival, announcing that they will not perform there again until the festival and police can guarantee safety for all attendees:

Swedish singer Zara Larsson also tweeted her anger after finding out that a fan was attacked during her set at Bravalla. As Fuse notes, some of Larsson’s tweets (translated from Swedish) read:

“Fuck you who shamelessly raped a girl in the audience. You deserve to burn in hell. Fuck you for making girls feel insecure when they go to a festival. I hate guys. Hate hate hate. How am I supposed to take it seriously when you say ‘not all men,’ ‘I’m a nice guy, I don’t rape’? Where do all the ‘nice guys’ go when girls are raped? Are you too busy telling women how nice you are? It’s not fucking hard to be generalized. It’s hard to feel insecure about a festival where you just wanna go to have fun and enjoy. BUT YOU CAN’T, BECAUSE OF MEN. UGH.”

In the same weekend, at least 27 cases of sexual assault were also reported at Sweden’s free Putte i Parken festival, with victims as young as 12. And while rape culture at music festivals has been widely recognized as an international problem, reports of sexual assault at Swedish festivals in particular appear to be on the rise. In January, Swedish police were accused of covering up multiple reported sexual assaults at a festival last year in Stockholm and not informing attendees that similar attacks had happened at the same festival in 2014.

Mumford and Sons ‘Appalled’ by Festival Assaults