The past week saw a social media spectacle erupt around allegations of sexual assault and rape involving Leeds artist Billy Kenny. Shambhala Music Festival, who removed Kenny from Shambhala at Home, have now called off the July 23rd-25th digital event altogether. They will also take a social media hiatus to update their practices to redouble their commitment to preventing abuse at their gatherings.

Shambhala’s initial announcement prompted Kenny to issue a statement of his own addressing one of the allegations. What followed was an outpouring of additional accounts that ultimately pushed him to go dark on all of his social media pages. The festival’s organizers found themselves back in the crossfire, however, when one of Kenny’s alleged victims, Sorinda Demeter, brought to light that the alleged incidents had been brought to their attention in 2017 and they continued to book him.

“We would like to offer our sincerest apologies to all of those affected and thank those who displayed the courage to speak out,” reads a passage of Shambhala’s statement. “Our next step will be to work with our team to determine the best course of action. This is an opportunity for us to look forward and to improve the way we run our festival. We acknowledge that we can do better to ensure that our team, guests and artists align with our values and we commit to using the lessons learned to reduce the potential for future harm.”

To that end, organizers promised to implement extensive background checks and a zero-tolerance policy in regards to abuse among artists. They additionally plan to re–emphasize staff training on investigation of sexual harassment and assault claims, as well as provide consent training manuals for guest and staff alike.

The allegations involving Billy Kenny follow a number of similar controversies involving commercial EDM DJs like Graves, Space Jesus and Bassnectar. In 2018, several months after the #MeToo movement took hold, a similar fate befell Datsik, forcing him to discontinue touring and step down from his label, Firepower Records.

Shambhala Music Festival’s organizers have not specified how long they will remain silent on social media.

Image credit: Dawid Labno