Chaos as artists pull out of London festival over concerns of ‘art-washing’

Musical acts including LVRA and Heartworms have dropped out of the inaugural SXSW London festival due to the undisclosed involvement of former MPs Tony Blair and David Cameron

Several music acts have withdrawn from the inaugural edition of SXSW London for allegedly hiding the involvement of controversial speakers from both the public and scheduled artists. LVRA, Sam Akpro and other artists are accusing the festival of “art-washing” after news that former Prime Ministers David Cameron and Tony Blair were part of the programme.

SXSW London 2025 marks the US event’s debut in Europe, running from June 2 to June 7 in Shoreditch. The week-long event includes talks, panel discussions, workshops and music performances with major politicians, entrepreneurs and artists including Dr. Jane Goodall, American-entrepreneur Lucy Guo, Sadiq Khan, Letitia Wright, Idris Elba, and many more.

Last week, journalist Matt Kennard shared screenshots of an alleged leaked programme via X, which revealed that former PMs David Cameron and Tony Blair would speak at the event – unbeknownst to artists. According to Kennard, organisers were “keen” to have both talks go ahead, despite the leak.

READ MORE: What happens when headline artists drop out of a music festival at the last minute

When news of Cameron and Blair’s involvement in the festival broke, artists jasmine.4.t, Heartworms, Sam Akpro, Blood Of Aza, Saliah, and LVRA all revealed that they would no longer perform at the event. The latter posted a lengthy statement accusing the organisers of “art-washing”.

LVRA shared via Instagram: “Having spent the last several weeks in talks with the music team at SXSWL, I will be boycotting. This is also in solidarity with other acts who have already boycotted the festival.”

The artist added: “Whilst the music team were pulling together a diverse, ‘cool’ line-up, the conference team were booking speakers from multiple organisations deeply complicit in the current genocide of Palestinian people. This included weapons tech IDF supplier Palantir, Barclays and politicians such as Tony Blair and David Cameron. This surmounts to art-washing.”

They then cited numerous other criticisms of the event, including “inaccessible pricing” that excludes marginalised groups and an “exploitative business model”. After raising concerns to the event, LVRA confirmed some “productive conversations” that led to the removal of the CTO of Palantir and Head of Sponsorship at Barclays but announced their withdrawal after learning of Cameron and Blair’s planned involvement.

Sam Akpro also issued a statement announcing his withdrawal due to the involvement of the PMs and Kate O’Brien, who is involved in the NATO Innovation Fund. In his statement, Akpro also accused the festival of art-washing, saying: “SXSW is using us smaller and minority artists to push information and ideologies that I do not align myself with.”

Heartworms, who was due to headline Hoxton Hall on June 7, cancelled her appearance, telling fans: “I won’t be performing at SXSW London this weekend for what I hope are fairly obvious reasons – I stand with those who have already done the same, and thank you to my team and label for their understanding.”

In a statement to NME, a SXSW London spokesperson said: “As one of the world’s largest festivals across tech, music and the creative industries, SXSW London respects everyone’s views and positions and aims to create an open, diverse space for debate and discussion.”

Blair spoke at the conference’s opening day about how AI can make government’s better alongside Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle. Blair said it was an “enormous honour and pleasure” to share the stage with Kyle, saying the MP is “one of the people I admire most in politics”.

“I hope that doesn’t damage you political career too much, Pete,” Blair joked about his endorsement of Kyle. On the second day of the conference, David Cameron took the stage for a discussion titled “A Healthcare Revolution”.

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