The festival’s official Giegling afterparty will not go ahead.
Giegling have been removed from the bill of London’s Sunfall Festival after sexist comments made by label co-founder Konstantin in a Groove magazine interview.
The label had been scheduled to play an official festival afterparty at London’s Bloc venue after the festival on August 12 featuring Konstantin and Giegling’s Leafar Legov.
In a statement, Sunfall organizer The Columbo Group said: “Out of respect for the incredible female talent we have with us at Sunfall this year, it’s with regret we announce the Giegling night session will not be going ahead.
“We are shocked to hear of Konstantin’s recent comments, and disagree with them completely.
“Joint day and night ticket holders will be notified via email, if you do hold a Giegling ticket email us at info@sunfall.co.uk for more night session options.”
Konstantin was quoted as saying in a translated version of the interview that it is “unfair that female DJs are so heavily promoted” and that women are “worse at DJing than men.”
He was also reported to have said that “women who seek careers in male-dominated industries like the DJ business must lose their ‘female qualities’ and become ‘manly’”.
The Black Madonna and all-female dance music collective Discwoman backed up the interview with their own testimony on social media, but in a statement given to RA earlier today (June 22), Konstantin argued that he had been misquoted.
“I feel deeply sorry about the words that have been printed,” he said. “These words are not a direct quote and are in my opinion misleading.”
“I actually learned to DJ from my friend Sarah and of course I don’t think women are worse DJs than men. I completely regret what was said in that private conversation with the journalist, where she did not appreciate my bad sense of humour and my habit of taking opposite positions to challenge people, even if it sometimes goes way beyond my own opinion.”
“What was written does not reflect my opinion nor is it at all anything other people from the label would ever say or feel. I accept the journalist’s point on the boy’s club. But we want women to be involved and we were always trying to involve women in our action.”