When the Georgia legislature passed their awful, Jim-Crow-style omnibus bill to suppress the vote and disenfranchise people of color, there was some energy – not a lot, but some – for companies pulling their business out of the state of Georgia. Similarly, there’s been some discussion about whether businesses should pull of Texas, given the catastrophic anti-abortion law now in place. Billie Eilish apparently thought about cancelling her show in Austin this weekend, but decided to do the show anyway and just use her platform to curse out the state of Texas:
Billie Eilish speaks out against Texas’s new abortion law during her set at Austin City Limits:
“When they made that shit a law, I almost didn't want to do the show, because I wanted to punish this fucking place for allowing that to happen here… My body, my fucking choice!” pic.twitter.com/U84pNYtN7G
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 3, 2021
I think that’s a good way to handle it? I would have mixed feelings about it if I was an entertainer. Between the racist Georgia laws and the misogynistic Texas laws and the lack of mask mandates and everything else… it’s just rough to try to travel to entertain anyone. Anyway, I’m glad Billie is trying to do something.
Meanwhile, Billie was just announced as the headliner for next year’s Glastonbury Festival. Glastonbury was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, but it is on schedule to happen next year. Billie will be the youngest solo headliner in the music festival’s history, and the first solo female act since Taylor Swift in 2016.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
“Butcha DID, Billie, ya DID!”
While I get that canceling “punishes” the ticket holders, it WOULD send a message that there will be NO INCOME derived for business taxes, tourist dollars, etc. unless things change. Enough of the voting populace needs to get hit in the pocketbook. THAT is what motivates that kind of person who allows/wants these laws.
She STILL made her money off the concert. She could’ve issued the statement while cancelling. It would’ve had a LOT more impact.
Look what happened when the film industry boycotted. It made a difference.
I agree. Otherwise it’s just words and everyone at the concert who agrees with her can feel like they are “good” without having to actually do anything like vote or donate money to political campaigns.
I agree. Economic cancelling can be effective. Look at South Africa and apartheid. I think it was also somewhat effective in the case of the NC bathroom bill.
Another option would be to have the show and donate 100% to the efforts to overturn. Punishing her fans is not going to punish Conservatives who are against choice. The Venn diagram of that is probably 2 circles that don’t intersect. If she canceled, Abbott and Ted Cruz would’ve attacked in some godawful way.
Yes, Billie should have pulled the plug!! Including all other entertainers, conventions, movie/television executives, they film in Toronto for financial benefits so it’s the same. Every industry must come together for all of the women in these states, and all of the women in the position to create change and/or those who respect the women in their lives, having to travel out of state or creating their own solution.
Yes, it would have been much more impactful had other companies also joined in as well, just not entertainment. Georgia didn’t lose any companies or film projects, only the golf tournament I think. They all need to come together, all of the big money and job makers. It makes an impactful statement when everyone comes together to fight for each other. They may be sitting pretty in their respective states, but I never imagined that Texas would keep rolling backwards to the point that men are back to dragging their knuckles on the ground again.
No woman is safe in this country, no matter where you live!!
I was there this weekend and literally every artist I saw said something about the bullsh*t law, and organizers also had Wendy Davis who did the famous filibuster against the last major law almost 10 years ago on a smaller stage speaking on how to get engaged.
That’s good to hear. My instinct would have been to boycott the state, but perhaps gathering like that, educating, and teaching action is more effective.
the problem in Texas, as it is in too many states, is that the state is gerrymandered to hell in order to silence the voices & votes of democrats
Her brother, Finneas, also performed at ACL and announced that he’d be donating his paycheck to Planned Parenthood of Texas. I hope that Billie and other performers who could afford to miss a paycheck did the same.
She should have. No one should perform there.
I lived in Texas for almost 10 years and entertainers pulling out of gigs, TV/movie productions moving out wont matter. The TX GOP truly does not care. Because they know 2 things for certain:
1. TX is gerrymandered enough that even Austin has a GOP House Rep. Liberals can be mad all they want, the GOP won’t lose power anytime soon.
2. Companies will continue to leave states like CA for TX because of tax breaks regardless of the states non-business politics, so the TX’s economy will continue to grow.
BINGO.
This. I don’t have the answers but I don’t think artists banning Texas is the answer. Think of the fans and the people who are working the venue. Afterwards the artists should seek out venues owned by people who do not support the political elites and donate to local organizations. The GOP politicians don’t GAF if fancy liberals don’t come.
Also Texas has become one of the most racially diverse states in the nation with huge East Asian communities. There has got to be another way imo
I went to the women’s march in Houston this weekend, and Padma Lakshmi gave an amazing speech there and mentioned the pressure they were under to pull Top Chef out of the city after the law passed, but she wanted to support Houston because she knows we don’t deserve this.
I absolutely sympathize with the desire for people with the ability to choose not to work in Texas to not work in Texas while this law is on the books- I was very supportive of David Simon’s move to not film his show in Texas to protect the women working on the production, but we need support as well as boycott. What people outside don’t understand is that the cities in Texas are angry as fuck about this law. All of the big cities in Texas went blue last election. Literally all of them, even Fort Worth, which is usually the one red holdout. It isn’t just Austin in a sea of red; all of the cities are blue islands in a sea of red, and there are millions of us here, and we’re all fucked by this gerrymandered to hell and back state legislature.
I can see how this would be a tough call, she’s right that the citizens are the victims and shouldn’t be punished, but they don’t make the laws. Hit them where it hurts, stop giving them money agreeing to perform in these backward ass states, and I’m in Alabama so it hurts to say that, lol.
I got tears listening to Billie, it’s so unfair that women aren’t seen as worthy of having control over their own bodies, our lives aren’t as important to these twisted assholes who salivate over those fresh newborns. I can’t believe we’re still fighting for basic rights.
She and others can lecture from the stage all she wants but whoever owns the venue and the concessions are still making millions off that show and they very likely supported the law.
As a Houstonian I have mixed feelings about this. This is not a law a majority of Texans support. I mean, Austin is a very liberal city. They hate the law, they hate the GOP, I am sure they cheered when she trashed them. Do they deserve to be punished further? We need support, attention, action. I think she and Padma both did the right thing. Show up but also speak out.