The security doing the work for London’s Lovebox Festival has been hit hard by accusations of sexual assault over the course of this year’s event.
Taking place in the capital’s Victoria Park from July 15-16, this year’s festival saw sets from the likes of Frank Ocean, Miller, and Solange. However the festival has today made headlines for all the wrong reasons, after attendee Louisa Davies claimed that the festival’s security staff sexual assaulted her during the aforementioned Ocean’s headline set on Friday night.
To the security guard at Lovebox who put his hand up my shorts – I'm not letting you ruin my weekend, you absolute scumbag.
— Louisa Davies (@LouisaD__) July 15, 2017
In a piece written for W Magazine, Davies described her experience, writing “A line of security guards walked towards me in a yellow line, and naturally (as I am a sucker for authority), I moved. One by one, the men walked past me… I felt a hand run up my thigh, and it then tuck itself inside my shorts. I froze, pushed the man away from me, and before I had chance to think, he had gone.”
In addition to this, Davies claims that it took nearly 40 minutes for her complaints of the assault to be addressed, continuing to say “If the same urgency and seriousness that was applied to drugs was issued for assaults and derogatory attitudes towards women, perhaps the problem [of sexual assault at festivals] would be less severe.”
Sexual assault at festivals has become a burning issue in modern musical culture, and back in May, several music festivals’ official websites participated in a “blackout” to affirm their dedication to tackling the issue.
Lovebox were not one of the festivals that took part in this blackout, and as of yet the festival’s organisers MAMA Group have not yet responded to these accusations.