Singer Sophie Straat Cleared of Discrimination over Mosh Pit - DutchNews.nl
Discrimination hotlines in the Netherlands and Belgium said her mosh pit request was symbolic and protected speech, after about 200 complaints in Ghent.
- Discrimination hotlines in the Netherlands and Belgium concluded Dutch singer Sophie Straat did not discriminate when she asked "all white men to step back" during recent performances, determining the request did not constitute a refusal of entry.
- Sophie Schwartz, known as Straat, requested space for women, queer people, and people of color in the "mosh pit" during the Best Kept Secret festival last month and in Ghent on Monday.
- European Court of Human Rights case law protects such provocative expression, while Unia, a Belgian hotline, described the comment as a "symbolic and artistic expression." Discriminatie.nl noted it was a limited, one-off event.
- Authorities received some 200 complaints following the Ghent concert. Straat reported on Instagram earlier this month that she has received "a wave of sexist, antisemitic hate messages and threats."
- Raised in Amsterdam's de Pijp neighborhood, the singer stated she never intended to exclude anyone but sought to create a safe area for marginalized groups. She has also criticized the media narrative surrounding these events.
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14 Articles
Dutch singer asking white men to stand in the back is not discrimination, hotlines say
Discrimination hotlines in the Netherlands and Belgium have concluded that there was no discrimination during two recent performances by Dutch singer Sophie Straat. During performances on Monday in Ghent and at Best Kept Secret last month, she asked “all white men to step back” and make room for women, queer people, and people of color in the mosh pit.Straat said that she did not want to exclude anyone, but wanted to make room for people who fee…
The national reporting center Discriminatie.nl does not see sufficient reason in Sophie Straat's statement at the Best Kept Secret festival to believe that she discriminated on the basis of skin color or gender. This is stated in a letter that the several hundred complainants will receive shortly. Whether actual discrimination occurred is a matter for the police and the judiciary, director Jerrol Marten clarified to the ANP on Thursday.
During the Ghent Festivities, the singer clarified her earlier statements and asked visitors to put themselves in other people's shoes a little more often.
Protest singer Sophie Straat is causing quite a stir this festival summer with a call preceding a mosh pit: "All white men to the back." The statement falls within a feminist punk tradition. "In the law, an artist is given a lot of room to chafe."
Equal Opportunities Centre Unia has ruled that the statement "all white men to the back" by Dutch artist Sophie Straat is not discriminatory. Unia received a total of around 200 reports regarding her performance at the Ghent Festivities. "Although the statement may be perceived as polarizing or offensive, in this context it must be seen as a symbolic and artistic expression," it stated.
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