Pittsburgh musician Merce Lemon drops out of SXSW "in solidarity with Palestine"

For emerging musicians, being chosen to play SXSW could mark a turning point in their careers. Every year, the festival — taking place this year from March 8-16 — makes Austin, Texas a gathering place for hundreds of music acts and celebrities, as well as leaders across tech, entertainment, and other industries.

For Pittsburgh indie rocker Merce Lemon, who was chosen to play the 2024 SXSW Music Festival Showcasing Artists lineup, it meant sharing space with over 300 artists from around the world and gaining exposure to new audiences, possible representation, and more. But on Tuesday, Lemon announced via Instagram that she pulled out of the SXSW over concerns that the festival supports defense contractors with ties to the deadly Gaza conflict.

"I refuse to be free advertising for an event that is directly tied to the genocide of Palestinian people," Lemon wrote. The post quoted Squirrel Flower, another 2024 Showcasing Artists musician, who pulled out of the festival "because SXSW is platforming defense contractors," and cites "Raytheon subsidiaries" and the U.S. Army, which is listed prominently on the festival's website as a main sponsor.

Besides Lemon and Squirrel Flowers, several other slated SXSW music acts have also boycotted the festival, including Proper, Mamalarky, Eliza McLamb, Shalom, The Curls, TC Superstar, and Villagerrr. Dr. Devon Price, an autism research advocate set to speak as a panelist at the festival, announced on Instagram that he withdrew for similar reasons.

The boycott has quickly made headlines, including a story from The Guardian outlining how Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, the former name of what is now RTX, is sponsoring parts of the SXSW Pitch tech showcase. The article points out that RTX is "known to supply weapons to the Israeli government" and quotes RTX chairman and executive director, Greg Hayes, as telling shareholders last year that the company would benefit from "increased demand for weapons during the war in Gaza."

A statement from Collins on the SXSW website describes how the company would use its presence at the 2024 festival to launch its second Powered by Collins Initiative, "designed to foster technology innovation with Deep Tech small- to medium-sized enterprises."

The U.S. Army, which, in a March 4 press release, identified itself as an SXSW "super sponsor," has had a major presence in the West Bank training Palestinian Authority security forces. A Washington Post article published on March 5 reported that many see the current iteration of the Palestinian Authority as "Israel’s repressive subcontractors," and quoted Alaa Tartir, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, as saying it “is not for the security of the Palestinian people" and "was reformed in order to deliver stability, security coordination and Israeli security first."

A document shared with City Paper cites the long list of companies and organizations whose SXSW participation led to the boycott. These include other known defense contractors viewed by the SXSW boycott movement as profiting from a conflict that, according to a report released this month by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, has displaced 1.7 million people across the Gaza Strip. The report also states that, since the conflict began in Oct. 2023, nearly 31,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank have been killed, a vast majority of whom are women and children.

Pittsburgh City Paper reached out to SXSW for comment but has yet to hear back.

Instead of performing at SXSW, Lemon and others will perform at alternative shows taking place in Austin during the festival. Lemon is now slated to perform on Sun., March 10 at Far West Fest and at "SXSW Unofficial" music events organized by Smash By Smash West, a new summit organized as a way to raise awareness around the more harmful, exploitative aspects of the yearly festival.