Last week, HARD Summer dropped their official trailer for this year’s edition, which ever since being uploaded online has caused some controversy. With this one, the people from HARD tried to tackle the lack of women on festival lineups, issue that has been talked about for years.
However, the trailer wasn’t received very well and now, the festival’s founder, Gary Richards has decided to issue an apology for the controversial video. You can take a look at his statement below!
“Here at HARD Events we are here for everyone. The HARD Summer trailer was created as a satirical piece to raise consciousness at a time when equality issues are of utmost importance. Our goal is to promote good music and we are trying to give women more of a platform at our festival.
My intentions here were only to help, not offend anyone, in supporting Agata’s vision and message. I understand that she does not speak for all women and how people could be upset by the trailer. There is always a risk of misinterpretation when satire is used, but we felt it was right to let her express herself and have creative control over the piece. We want to extend a sincere apology to those who were offended.
We hope the conversations started by this piece bring the change we intended and we will continue to be a champion for Women’s rights within our community and world at large.”