An inflatable boat filled with migrant dummies in orange life jackets was hoisted into the crowd gathered to watch the band Idles play on the Other Stage at Worthy Farm on Friday night (June 28). Home Secretary James Cleverly later accused the artwork of “trivialising” small boats crossings of migrants in the Channel and described it as “vile”. In response, the Bristolian street artist branded Mr Cleverly’s reaction “a bit over the top” and said it was the real boat he funded, which was being detained by Italian authorities after it had rescued unaccompanied children at sea, that he deemed “vile and unacceptable”.
Small boats crossings are deadly and have cost the lives of too many people. Festival goers cosplaying as migrants, and celebrating the actions of people smugglers, while they party is awful. Whatever your political views, this isn’t something we should trivialise.
https://t.co/t54igK4b02 On Sunday, Mr Cleverly reshared a video of the inflatable boat crowdsurfing the crowd to X, formerly Twitter, and wrote: “Small boats crossings are deadly and have cost the lives of too many people. “Festivalgoers cosplaying as migrants, and celebrating the actions of people smugglers, while they party is awful.
Whatever your political views, this isn’t something we should trivialise.” He later told Sky News: “People die in the Mediterranean, they die in the Channel. This is not funny.
It is vile. It is a celebration of the loss of life in the Channel..
