Barclays ended its sponsorship of the Latitude Festival following a backlash from artists and fans over the bank’s alleged links to the Israel-Hamas war.
The bank has suspended its sponsorship deal with Live Nation, which operates the Latitude, Download and the Isle of Wight festivals.
In a statement, Live Nation said: “Following discussion with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will step back from sponsorship of our festivals.”
A spokesman for Barclays said: “Barclays was asked and has agreed to suspend participation in the remaining Live Nation festivals in 2024. Barclays customers who hold tickets to these festivals are not affected and their tickets remain valid.”
It comes after musicians including Irish singer-songwriter CMAT and comedians such as Joanne McNally and Grace Campbell – the daughter of former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell – had announced they were pulling out of Latitude over accusations Barclays was helping to fund Israel’s weapons trade.
Several bands including Pest Control, Speed, Scowl, Zulu and Ithaca had also pulled out of Download, which began in Leicestershire on Friday.
The boycott followed attacks on at least 20 Barclays branches across England and Scotland earlier this week by pro-Palestine activists, who also took aim at the bank for investing in fossil fuels.
Joanna Warrington at activist group Fossil Free London welcomed the suspension as a “major win for the movement to boycott Barclays”.
She said: “Barclays is a rotten bank: artists, brands, clients, and customers are all abandoning Barclays because of the billions Barclays is ploughing into fossil fuel companies like Shell and Israeli arms companies dropping bombs on innocent Palestinian children.”
A Barclays spokesman said: “The protesters’ agenda is to have Barclays debank defence companies which is a sector we remain committed to as an essential part of keeping this country and our allies safe.
“They have resorted to intimidating our staff, repeated vandalism of our branches and online harassment. The only thing that this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken essential support for cultural events enjoyed by millions.
“It is time that leaders across politics, business, academia and the arts stand united against this.”
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