Billy Bragg shares support for “brilliant” Billy Nomates after online abuse

24 June, 2023

Billy Bragg has led support online for Billy Nomates after the musician received a host of online abuse following her set yesterday (June 24) at Glastonbury.

After the set, the musician, real name Tor Maries, asked BBC6 Music to take down footage of her online after receiving what she described as an “insane” amount of “personal abuse”, before saying that after her summer gigs, there would be “no more shows”.

A post shared from Maries read: “The level of personal abuse on @bbc6music socials for going to work today is insane. I’ve asked for all footage to be removed.

“I know it’s not for everyone what I do. I know lots of people don’t rate me. But the level of personal abuse on that public page is too much. There will be no more shows after this summer. You wouldn’t stay in a workplace that did this to you. Why should I.”

Bragg was one of the first musicians who shared his support for Maries after the set, saying: “Solidarity from everyone at Left Field with Billy No Mates who was so badly abused online after her @Glastonbury set was posted on @BBC6Music that she asked them to take [the] clip down.

“She played a set for us last year and was brilliant. You’ll always have [a] place here Tor.”

Since then, other musicians, fans and those working in the industry have come out in support of Maries, too, with many saying the criticisms were rooted in misogyny.

The Anchoress, aka Catherine Anne Davies tweeted: “Glastonbury should have been a career highlight for the fabulous Billy Nomates but instead toxic and misogynistic online culture ruins everything and she’s asked them to remove footage of her incredible set. And we wonder why we have no female headliners?”

Musician LoneLady added: “I know how hard it is to stand and perform alone on stage; it takes a huge amount of inner strength – and at least I have a guitar to keep me company. The usual misogyny baked into this. Billy Nomates is a champ.”

Scream’s Simone Marie, meanwhile, started a thread asking people to share their positive thoughts about Maries’ set, saying: “I want her to see that music is the pace for her and she shouldn’t let these fks destroy her spirit.”

Others tweeting in support included Sleaford Mods, Lauren Laverne, Portished’s Geoff Barrow and Edith Bowman. You can see some more of the support for Maries here:

Speaking to NME earlier this year, Maries opened up about the abuse she has received online previously ahead of the release of her album, ‘CACTI’ in January.

“I’m still up against people that fucking hate what I’m doing, and they want to let me know,” Maries told NME. “[Success] can be presented like it’s this place where you’re always celebrated and you’re in this state of constant gratefulness, when actually [some] days are really hard and a lot of people are still very angry about what I do. Particularly in England – in Europe, they’re a bit more accepting.”

Elsewhere at Glastonbury yesterday, Arctic Monkeys played a career-spanning set and Foo Fighters paid tribute to late drummer Taylor Hawkins during a surprise set as ‘The Churnups’.

Check out all the latest from Glastonbury 2023 on the NME liveblog here, and see more news, reviews, photos, interviews and more here.

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