Glastonbury Festival's all male headliners spark furious backlash from fans

03 March 2023 , 16:27

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Glastonbury's headliners were announced today, but quickly sparked backlash as all are male

This year's Glastonbury line up has already sparked furious backlash for having all-male headliners - yet organisers say 'we're trying our best'.

It comes as Arctic Monkeys and Guns N' Roses are set to join Elton John in the top slots at the world-famous festival from June 21 to 25.

Yet, the Worthy Farm festival has faced backlash for its lack of diversity in its headliners.

55 acts have been confirmed for the 2023 festival so far. Of those, 53% are male and just 43% of acts are non-white or are groups that include non-white members.

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has defended this year's line-up.

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Elton John will headline Sunday night of the festival (Alexi Rosenfeld/ Getty Images)

She says all festivals are struggling to get female headliners as there is an industry 'pipeline' problem and says there needs to be more investment.

Speaking to The Guardian, Emily said: "We’re trying our best so the pipeline needs to be developed. This starts way back with the record companies, radio. I can shout as loud as I like but we need to get everyone on board."

She continued to say Glastonbury is "entirely focused on balancing [our] bill" in terms of gender but "every aspect of diversity".

Guns N' Roses have been announced to play the top spot on Saturday night (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

Arctic Monkeys will headline Friday night of the iconic festival (Simone Joyner/Getty Images)

Guns N' Roses were booked following a female headliner having to drop out, according to Eavis.

In the headline warm-up spot, Lizzo will open for Arctic Monkeys on the Friday night. Someone, Emily says could 'totally headline' the festival.

Next year's event has already secure its headliners, with two females set to take the top spots. Neither of who have appeared at Glastonbury before.

The lineup has sparked backlash as all headliners are male (Erika Goldring/Getty Images)

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis says diversity is an industry wide problem (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Yet, it has not stopped debate taking place of the male-dominated top spots at this year's event.

Music fans have called the line-up "awful" in terms of diversity.

Independent's Culture & Lifestyle News Editor Roisin O'Connor said: "Situations like this year's Glastonbury lineup are a direct symptom of industry failures to support female artists from the ground up. Getting them on the smaller stages, on radio, at live venues."

Music fans took to social media to express their thoughts on the line-up (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

Another person added: "Stormzy wasn't at big festival headliner status when he did Glastonbury and look what he did with the platform. Seems unusually backwards to not allow that same opportunity to literally any women."

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Someone else commented: "Awful lack of diversity in the headliners. The undercard is excellent though."

One commenter said: "@glastonbury do better!!! All male headliners? You can’t even blame lack of talent, there is a overwhelming WEALTH of amazing women to choose from."

Mia O'Hare