Fans of the international festival Afropunk, have been outraged over the last minute cancellation of the headline act, Solange Knowles.
Solange took to her social media pages yesterday to announce that she would no longer be performing at Afropunk Joburg, the first installment of the festival on the African continent.
The singer and songwriter revealed that she has an autonomic disorder which has left her unable to take the lengthy flight from the US to Mzansi, and then have to perform afterwards.
ICYMI: SOLANGE PULLS OUT OF AFROPUNK JOBURG
In her statement, Solange said: “I can’t thank Afro Punk enough for their support, and to all of the other festivals this past summer/fall who have known about my health, kept it confidential, and gone out of their way to make me feel supported while doing these shows”.
Fans have been expressing their outrage on Twitter since the announcement was made last night, accusing Afropunk of having known about Solange’s condition, yet continuing to use her name for marketing purposes.
A lot of people said that they only bought tickets to see Solange.
But, Afropunk has come out to clarify that they had no idea about the singer’s condition.
In a statement released by the festival this afternoon, the organisers said that they wish to continue the conversation around this messy situation in transparent manner.
“We only learned that Solange would not be attending this year’s festival within the last day. We value her as an artist and above all as a human being and understand that her health is paramount. Though we have worked with Solange on multiple festivals this year, we were not among the few who were aware that she has been privately dealing with this diagnosis,” the statement read.
The organisers have reassured fans that the singer would return to South Africa to grace the 2018 Afropunk Joburg stage.
They went on to say that they have been unable to find a replacement performer to headline the event due to time constraints.
“In the short time since we have known, we have reached out to multiple artists and friends, but most acts are already booked or otherwise busy for New Year’s Eve,” they said.
But fans of the hit Cranes in the Sky singer should not despair just yet, Afropunk has a special deal just for them.
Solange will apparently perform in a solo show in 2018, where 2017 Afropunk Joburg ticket holders will get a reduced price.
“Once we have details, we will create a special discount code for 2017 AFROPUNK JoBurg festival ticket holders to attend this show,” the statement said.
