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Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan cancelled musical performances at Sunday night’s U.S. premiere of the documentary\u00a0Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery\u00a0in Los Angeles,\u00a0citing the “muzzling” of free speech.<\/p>\n
While introducing the film at the screening at the Ford Theater, McLachlan \u2014 who co-founded the Lilith Fair festival, which\u00a0highlighted female musicians in the 1990s \u2014 announced the cancellations and her reasoning.<\/p>\n
“We have collectively decided not to perform, but instead to stand in solidarity in support of free speech,” McLachlan said in a video<\/u><\/a> taken at the premiere and posted to X by a journalist with The Hollywood Reporter.<\/p>\n The announcement came toward the end of McLachlan’s statement, and garnered a standing ovation from the crowd.<\/p>\n While the performances were set to be a surprise, multiple<\/u><\/a>outlets<\/u><\/a>reported<\/u><\/a> that McLachlan herself and singer-songwriter Jewel, who is featured in the documentary, were supposed to perform. The Hollywood Reporter also said Olivia Rodrigo and Mya were set to take the stage.<\/p>\n Ahead of the screening, McLachlan told the audience she was struggling with what to say in her speech.<\/p>\n “I’ve grappled with being here tonight and around what to say about the present situation that we are all faced with. The stark contraction to the many advances we’ve made; watching the insidious erosion of women’s rights, of trans and queer rights, the muzzling of free speech,” McLachlan said in her statement, just before she announced the performances wouldn’t be happening.<\/p>\n WATCH | Sarah McLachlan on the legacy of Lilith Fair:<\/strong><\/p>\n The singer didn’t detail what she meant by “the present situation,” but the comments come after the high-profile suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for comments made following the shooting of American conservative commentator and activist Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n The Lilith Fair documentary is also being distributed in the U.S. by ABC News Studios \u2014 the same network that airs Jimmy Kimmel Live!\u00a0(CBC helped commission the documentary and is distributing it\u00a0in Canada.)<\/p>\n Last week, ABC said<\/u><\/a> Kimmel’s show would be “pre-empted indefinitely” after FCC chair Brendan Carr had urged local broadcasters not to air the show. U.S. President Donald Trump cheered the decision in a post on Truth Social<\/u><\/a> (though he wrongly said ABC had cancelled the show)\u00a0and has since threatened<\/u><\/a> that the government could pull broadcast licences of networks that are “against” the president.<\/p>\n Kimmel still has not spoken publicly about being off the air, though a number of celebrities have come to Kimmel’s defence since he was first taken off air. Canadian actor Tatiana Maslany, who starred in Disney’s show She Hulk, called for viewers<\/u><\/a> to cancel their Disney+, ESPN and Hulu subscriptions. (Disney owns ABC\u00a0and the two streaming platforms.)<\/p>\n WATCH | Trump suggests revoking licences of networks that are ‘against’ him:<\/strong><\/p>\n Fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert also came to Kimmel’s defence, calling<\/u><\/a> Trump an “autocrat” and the decision to pull Kimmel’s show “blatant censorship.”<\/p>\n