Killdren say song was ‘encouraging people to vote out the Tories’, but festival removes them and says, ‘We in no way condone violence’

Killdren, a music duo whose lyrics call for “Tory genocide”, have been axed from the Glastonbury festival lineup.

The band say they write “politically charged slapstick anthems and form the ideal soundtrack to the worst generation in history”. One of their songs features the lyrics: “Murder them all to the beat of a drum / kill Tory scum / kill Tory scum.” A recent performance at Boomtown Fair featured a simulated attack on a man dressed in a suit to represent a Tory voter.

The Jo Cox Foundation, the charity set up in the name of the murdered Labour MP, had condemned the booking, with its chief executive Catherine Anderson saying: “The direct incitement of violence and abuse, on any platform and in any sector, is wrong. All of us need to call out this kind of language, until we return to a more civil way of being able to debate difference of opinions – without having to resort to threats and intimidation.”

Killdren are unlucky – 2019 just isn’t the year for songs about killing Tories | Dorian Lynskey Read more

Killdren were due to play the Shangri-La area of the festival, but Glastonbury has now removed the musicians from the lineup. “We are incredibly saddened that the attention this booking has received has caused such upset and negativity towards such a peaceful festival,” Shangri-La’s organisers wrote in a statement. “We in no way condone violence and will not allow this matter to overshadow the incredibly inclusive spirit of Glastonbury. And as a result we have taken the decision to withdraw the booking.”

Killdren responded on Twitter, saying: “The full title of the song in question is Kill Tory Scum (Before They Kill You) and the video questions state-sanctioned violence. The song was created in time for the last general election in 2017 and the ‘killing’ was encouraging people to vote out the Tories … the IPPR thinktank reported that up to 130,000 preventable deaths have occurred as a result of Tory austerity measures.”