Over a month and half after sexual misconduct accusations were made against Arcade Fire singer Win Butler, tour opener Beck has decided to pull out of the upcoming North American tour dates. Considering that days after the accusations against Butler became public, Feist pulled out of Arcade Fire tour bill six weeks ago herself — issuing an a well-articulated statement as to why she couldn’t be a part of it anymore in the process — it’s surprising that it took Beck this long to follow suit. Not to mention how surprising it was that Arcade Fire even decided to continue on the tour despite Butler being faced with a number of detailed sexual misconduct claims to begin with.
While Beck didn’t issue a statement as to why he chose to leave the tour, Consequence reports that an email was sent to ticket holders indicating that, “Beck is unfortunately no longer able to join Arcade Fire on their upcoming North American Tour. Taking his place will be [Haitian roots band] Boukman Eksperyans.” Following a run of European tour stops, Arcade Fire are set to begin their North American tour on October 28th in Washington D.C. But Beck is no longer a part of those plans.
In August, Pitchfork reported that four people came forward alleging that Butler engaged in unwanted and inappropriate sexual conduct towards them between 2015 and 2020. Butler has since denied any wrongdoing, saying that, “While these relationships were all consensual, I am very sorry to anyone who I have hurt with my behavior.” Meanwhile, Arcade Fire have continued to tour, but some Canadian radio stations have begun pulling the band’s music from the airwaves.