Details Surrounding Kirin J Callinan's Laneway Removal Revealed

Just hours after singer Kirin J Callinan's removal from the Laneway Festival line-up was confirmed by organisers, Brisbane artist Miss Blanks (aka Sian Vandermuelen) joined triple j's Hack program to discuss the decision. 

"I expressed [to Laneway organisers] how I felt, they definitely took that on board, and they had internal conversations besides the ones done with me, and it’s led to the decision of Kirin being kicked off the lineup, which is great," explained Vandermuelen on the show. 

Vandermuelen, who is an ambassador with the 1800 LANEWAY safe space program, shared a number of incidents involving Callinan that she believes were consequential to his removal from the festival.

"There hasn’t been any accountability process, there hasn’t been any apology, there hasn’t been any steps towards learning and unlearning, and there’s been no willingness to right wrongs."

When asked for reasons as to why she feels so strongly about the decision, Vandermuelen responded that “it threatens many people of many intersections, there are many people that have a potential for risk when someone like Kirin is on the line-up. Ableism and blackface, exposing himself at the ARIAs was just the icing on the cake.”

Laneway has so far declined to comment on the situation further than confirming Callinan's removal, with Hack asserting they are in the process of organising an interview with Callinan.

According to Hack, Callinan shared a post via Instagram yesterday saying, "To all the kind and inquistive folk that’a bin reachin out re Laneway ~ I appreciate the concern & I'll address this in time, you have my word. As it stands, I will no longer be performing at Laneway this year." The post has since been deleted. 

The Music has reached out to Kirin J Callinan's team for further comment.