Organizers Of Cancelled Burna Boy Event Blame SA Government For “Lack Of Intervention On Threats Of Violence”! Earlier this week the ‘Africa Unite’ concert was cancelled and now the organizers are speaking up.
The concert was cancelled after a couple of organizations including the Tshwane Entertainment Collective representing several artists lodged a complaint with threats should the show headlined by Burna Boy go on. Now that the show is not happening, the organizers are blaming the South African government for not intervening on the threats of violence.
In released by The organizers of the concert, Phambili Media and Play Network Africa released a statement standing by their decision to have made Burna Boy the headliner of the concert. Read their full statement below.
“The decision to cancel the Africans Unite Concert comes after the call from the Tshwane Entertainment Collective to boycott the Africans Unite concert in Tshwane. With the increasing threats of violence from other unfortunate segments of the public and without any government intervention, Phambili Media and Play Network Africa were prompted to take the threats and warnings seriously, as the safety of all artists and attendees could not be guaranteed. We then decided to cancel the concert. The safety of all attendees, artists and crew comes first. Both organizers go on to say that they still stand behind their decision to include Burna Boy in the lineup. As one of the artists at the center stage of the xenophobic attacks uproar, we saw fit to engage him to be a part of the Africans Unite campaign that aims to ultimately change the current negative narrative to that of solidarity and unity. It seems we have failed in this regard.”
