BLUESFEST director Peter Noble has doubled down in his defence of booking controversial band Sticky Fingers, describing the criticism as "cruel and unforgiving".
Bluesfest has faced a barrage of criticism over the past week after Sydney indie band Sticky Fingers joined the line-up for the Byron Bay music festival.
It peaked on Monday when Melbourne psych-rock band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard quit Bluesfest in protest over Sticky Fingers' inclusion.
Sticky Fingers have been the pariahs of the Australian music industry since 2016 when frontman Dylan Frost was accused of threatening behaviour towards Indigenous musician Thelma Plum and yelling racist abuse at another artist.
The band subsequently took time off for Frost to address mental health concerns. In 2018 the band's "comeback interview" with triple j was also widely condemned when the band described their previous poor behaviour as "boys will be boys".
Last week Noble defended Frost by saying, "At what point are we going to show compassion and forgiveness through his efforts at growth? When do we forgive people with a mental health issue at attempting to move forward in life?"
On Tuesday he stepped up his defence of Frost in a media statement, which did not name King Gizzard.
"I believe an attempt to victimise this man and his band in the circumstances is cruel and unforgiving," Noble wrote.
"This cruelty and lack of compassion are foreign to my values, as is the attempt to suppress the band's artistic expression. I was, and remain proud, to give the band a chance at rehabilitation.
"Bluesfest hopes that the public will understand, respect, and hopefully, on reflection, agree with the position my company and I have taken. Forgiveness is critical to helping people with mental health challenges continue functioning in society.
"It has been suggested that because of the listing of Sticky Fingers, Bluesfest and I endorsed the lead singer's ancient troubled behaviour. That suggestion is deplorable, untrue, and actionable as being defamatory."
Sticky Fingers gave a cheeky reply, by posting on Instagram a photo-shopped image of King Gizzard with South Park character "PC Principal", an antagonist who aggressively enforces PC culture on the US cartoon.
Bluesfest isn't the first festival to get stung by booking Sticky Fingers. In 2018 Newcastle's This That was so heavily criticised for the booking that Sticky Fingers eventually withdrew because they didn't want other acts on the line-up to be "bullied simply by association."
