Third artist is out at SummerStage amid Gaza controversy

Danish experimental musician Astrid Sonne has pulled out of her June 15 appearance at Central Park SummerStage, citing in an Instagram post the festival organizers’ decision to cancel a separate SummerStage appearance from the R&B singer Kehlani.

“It’s not right for me to perform in a concert series where artists are canceled for taking a stand against the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Sonne wrote on Instagram on Thursday. The singer-songwriter has moved her June 15 performance to the Williamsburg venue Baby’s All Right.

Sonne is the third artist out at SummerStage this month. On May 5 the nonprofit City Parks Foundation, which organizes the largely free summer concert series, canceled Kehlani’s upcoming concert, citing pressure from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration related to safety concerns.

A spokesperson for the mayor, Kayla Mamelak, said that the decision to cancel Kehlani’s concert “was not made by our administration” but rather was made “independently by the City Park Foundation, based on legitimate security concerns” but did not specify what those concerns were. She also said that the mayor was “disturbed” by Kehlani’s comments on Israel and the war in Gaza.

A week after Kehlani’s concert was called off, the rapper Noname’s June 18 SummerStage appearance was abruptly canceled. Noname, along with Kehlani, had signed one of several “Musicians for Palestine” letters expressing support for Palestinians.

Representatives for the City Parks Foundation, Sonne, Noname and Kehlani did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.

On May 20, a group of 13 members of the City Council called for the City Parks Foundation to put Kehlani and Noname back on the lineup, calling the mayor’s push to cancel the Kehlani concert a “gross abuse of mayoral power and a blatant act of artistic censorship.”

Several artists still scheduled to play SummerStage this season have signed letters or otherwise expressed support for Palestinians, including English superstar James Blunt, singer-songwriters Lido Pimienta and Charlotte Day Wilson, jazz composer and performer Vijay Iyer, and Alynda Segarra of indie darlings Hurray for the Riff Raff.

Sonne said on Instagram that she’s glad to be playing at Baby’s All Right instead. “Hope to see you there xx,” she wrote.

This story has been updated with comment from the mayor's office.