On Friday night, Dev Hynes (better known as the musician Blood Orange) and his girlfriend, Samantha Urbani, claimed that they were assaulted by Lollapalooza’s security guards after playing at the festival. In a deleted tweet, Urbani also said, “BTW after talking w lollapalooza ppl we’ve discovered the guards who assaulted us were NOT lolla staff, but privately hired for that stage.†Either way, the alleged attack happened after a set in which Hynes spoke about police brutality and racism. (He also wore a shirt honoring Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Jordan Davis, and Trayvon Martin, while Urbani wore one that said, “Stop police brutality.â€) Hynes and Urbani described the incident in a series of tweets:
Adding fuel to the fire, Lollapalooza has apparently been deleting Facebook comments from people who are asking the festival what happened.
Meanwhile Lollapalooza released the following statement: “Late Friday night, we learned of an incident involving an artist and a security guard on site. Since then, we have been in contact with those involved and the authorities, as we work together to resolve the situation. As always, our top priority is to ensure the safety of everyone at the festival.â€