Greg Abbott Tells Musicians ‘Don’t Come Back’ to Texas

Amid the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told musicians on Tuesday who are pulling out of the festival over the U.S. Army’s sponsorship of the event, “don’t come back” to the state.

Bringing thousands of visitors to Austin each March, SXSW is an internationally recognized event that showcases music, film and interactive media. The 2024 SXSW festival began on March 8 and is expected to run through the 16 with live panels and special events.

Despite the 2-year pause in the event due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival’s impact on the Austin economy in 2022 totaled $280.7 million, according to SXSW, as it typically attracts over 300,000 people each year.

However, the festival comes amid heightened tensions in the U.S. and around the world due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war which began on October 7, when Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israel in history, killing 1,200 people.

Israel subsequently launched its heaviest ever airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. More than 30,800 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, The Associated Press said. The rising death toll has led to international calls for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Strip.

On Sunday, celebrities attending the 2024 Academy Awards donned pins in support of a ceasefire in Gaza.

On Tuesday, musicians such as Kneecap, Lambrini Girls, Scowl, Gel, Okay Shalom, Squirrel Flower and Sprints began pulling out of the event to protest as the U.S. Army is a sponsor of the event. The artists were set to perform at the festival from March 11-16.

In a statement on X, Kneecap noted their decision to pull out of the festival due to the sponsorship, “We cannot in good conscience attend an arts festival that has the U.S. Army as a ‘super sponsor,'” and cited the supply of arms to Israel by the United States.

The group added that backing out will have “a significant financial impact” on the group. “But it isn’t an iota of hardship when compared to the unimaginable suffering being inflicted every minute, every day on the people of Gaza.”

In response, Abbott took to X, formerly Twitter, to criticize the move from musicians stating, “don’t come back,” and adding that Texas is proud of the U.S. military.

“Bands pull out of SXSW over U.S. Army sponsorship. Bye. Don’t come back. Austin remains the HQ for the Army Futures Command. San Antonio is Military City USA. We are proud of the U.S. military in Texas. If you don’t like it, don’t come here,” Abbott wrote on X.

Newsweek has reached out to Abbott’s office and the U.S. Army via email and SXSW via its online form for comment.

Following the October 7 attack, President Joe Biden, who later stressed the need for humanitarian aid to Gaza, announced that the U.S. would stand with Israel during the conflict and pledged to send the country a trove of military equipment and weapons. The U.S. is currently the foremost supplier of weapons to Israel, and several of those systems are being deployed in the conflict.

The U.S. Army is also spearheading the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and will construct a seaport on the territory’s Mediterranean coastline, as announced by Biden during his State of the Union address last week.

“This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined,” Biden said during the address. The president called on Israel to “do its part” to facilitate aid in the region.

Meanwhile, in a statement to BBC, the U.S. Army said it was “proud to be a sponsor of SXSW, and to have the opportunity to showcase America’s Army[…]explore new ideas and insights, and create dynamic industry partnerships.”