Entertainment
Neil Young confirms he won’t play his annual concert Farm Aid due to ongoing Covid fears: ‘I don’t think it’s safe’-Louise Griffin-Entertainment – Metro
He’s one of the original organisers of the event.
Neil Young confirmed he’s not ready to return to Farm Aid (Picture: Gus Stewart/Redferns via Getty Images)
Neil Young has confirmed he’s ‘not ready’ to play Farm Aid again amid the pandemic.
The annual benefit concert, which aims to help family farms in America, was first organised by Neil alongside Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp in 1985.
The singer’s been playing the event for decades, but missed it last year and has confirmed he won’t be there again this year due to Covid-19 fears.
Responding to a letter on his website, Neil, 76, explained: ‘I will not be at Farm Aid this year.
‘I am not ready for that yet. I don’t think it is safe in the pandemic. I miss it very much. Love, be well. Neil.’
Over the years, the concert has taken place in various states across the USA, and this year’s is due to take place on September 24 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Neil at the first ever Farm Aid (Picture: Getty Images)
Neil organised the event alongside Willie Nelson, and John Mellencamp (Picture: Getty)
Last year, Neil made headlines after writing an open letter to Spotify stating he would pull his entire catalogue if they didn’t take action against the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, which allegedly featured ‘fake information about vaccines’ in its episodes.
In his letter, Neil slammed Joe for spreading ‘fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them’.
Comedian-turned-MMA commentator Joe, 54, is behind Spotify’s most popular podcast, with an estimated 11million listeners per episode, and has faced criticism for his views on the Covid-19 vaccine, including him previously urging ‘young, healthy’ people not to get jabbed.
He said he misses performing at the concert (Picture: Getty Images)
However, Neil addressed his manager Frank Gironda and Warner Records co-chairman Tom Corson in the letter, and said Spotify ‘has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform.
Spotify later agreed to remove Neil’s music.
In a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter at the time, a Spotify spokesperson said: ‘We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators.
‘We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to Covid since the start of the pandemic.’
They added: ‘We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.’
At the time of writing, only a few of Neil’s songs are on the streaming platform, seemingly because they feature on soundtracks or records released by other entities.
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