Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist, known mononymously as Feist, has announced she will be leaving a tour with Arcade Fire following allegations of sexual misconduct against the band’s frontman Win Butler.
A Pitchfork investigation published last week alleged that the 42-year-old singer and guitarist of the Canadian indie rock band took advantage of age and fandom differences with four people; three women, aged between 18 and 23 at the time, alleged that Butler sent unwanted sexual messages between 2015 and 2020.
A fourth person, who is gender fluid, alleged that Butler sexually assaulted them twice in 2015, when they were 21 and he was 34. Pitchfork saw screenshots of text messages and Instagram messages between Butler and the four pseudonymous subjects, and interviewed friends and family who remembered being informed of the alleged events.
Butler denied the claims and said the relationships were consensual, adding in a statement: “It is deeply revisionist and frankly wrong for anyone to suggest otherwise.”
“In a pub in Dublin, after rehearsing with my band, I read the same headline you did,” Feist wrote in a lengthy statement posted on his social media accounts. “We had no time to prepare for what was coming let alone the opportunity to decide not to fly across the ocean into the belly of this situation.”
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“This has been incredibly difficult for me and I can only imagine how much harder it has been for the people who came forward. More than anything, I wish healing for those involved.”
He added that the Pitchfork article “ignited a conversation that’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than my songs, and it’s certainly bigger than any rock and roll tour… To stay on tour would symbolize that I was defending or ignoring the harm caused by Win Butler. and leaving would imply that I was the judge and jury.”
The 46-year-old singer said she was “never here to stand up for or with Arcade Fire; I was here to stand on a stage, a place that I’ve grown to feel like I belong and that I’ve earned.” my.
“There is no single path to healing when you have endured any version of the above, and no single path to rehabilitating the perpetrators,” he said. “It can be a lonely road to make sense of the abuse. I can’t solve this by leaving, and I can’t solve it by staying. But I can’t go on.”
Following the allegations, radio stations in Canada and the United States began removing the band’s songs from playlists. Commentators on social media urged fans to boycott the upcoming concerts in Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and elsewhere, with many surprised that the tour went ahead. When asked by a Guardian reporter for comment on the band’s gig in Dublin this week, a publicist for Arcade Fire said only that the band would continue their tour to promote their new album, We.
In her statement, Feist distanced herself from public shaming, which “might lead to action, but those actions come from fear, and fear is not where we find our best selves or make our best decisions . Fear does not precipitate empathy or healing or open up a safe space for these kinds of conversations to evolve, or for real accountability and remorse to be offered to those who have been harmed.”
In a statement to Pitchfork, Butler, who is married to bandmate Régine Chassagne, acknowledged having sexual interactions with each of the four people, but said they were not initiated by him and were consensual.
In another statement, he apologized “to anyone I have hurt with my behavior,” adding: “I continue to learn from my mistakes and work hard to be a better person, someone my child can be proud […] I’m sorry I wasn’t more aware and attuned to the effect I have on people – I fell, and while that’s no excuse, I’ll continue to look forward and heal what can be healed and learn from past experiences. “
Noting that she is “imperfect” and will “navigate this decision imperfectly,” Feist concluded that “the best way to take care of my band, my team, and my family is to step away from this tour , not of this conversation. The last two nights on stage, my songs made that decision for me. Hearing them through that lens was incongruous with what I’ve worked to clarify for myself all my career
“I’ve always written songs to name my own subtle struggles, to aspire to my best self, and to claim responsibility when I need it. And now I’m claiming my responsibility and coming home.”