L-FRESH The LION Carries Out On-Stage Protest At Hottest 100 Aus Day Event

Taking to Parramatta Park's Australia Day event today for a headline slot on the Hottest 100 stage, emcee L-FRESH The LION respectfully declined to perform his regular set of songs, instead opting to "perform the act of listening" in solidarity with the traditional owners of the land and those who believe Australia Day should be celebrated on a day other than January 26, commonly referred to as Invasion Day.

After playing a short section of his track 1 In 100,000 and paying respect to Parramatta's traditional owners, the Burramattagal people of the Darug nation, L-FRESH went on to say, "I've thought about this very deeply, but in staying true to myself as an artist and as a human being, no matter how much I thought about it I could not bring myself to perform my usual set of songs for you today. Instead I'm going to do something a little different. I'm going to perform the act of listening and I invite each and every one of you to join me in this act."

At first the speech was met with silence but soon scattered applause could be heard throughout the crowd, followed by cheers of solidarity. 

The rapper continued, "The vision of Australia Day is a nice one. It is a vision of Australia is that we can come together as a great, multicultural and inclusive nation. However, by celebrating it on the 26th of January, we are acting in direct conflict with that vision.

"Instead we are excluding and disrespecting the traditional owners of this land, who have, for longer than the Hottest 100 has been on 26 January and Australia Day has been a public holiday, been telling us that this is a day of mourning.

"How would changing the date of the Hottest 100 and Australia Day personally affect you?" 

Instead of performing songs from his ARIA-nominated record BECOME, the set instead consisted of "powerful and relevant songs by Indigenous artists" such as Yothu Yindi's Treaty, AB Original's January 26, Archie Roach's Keep Ya Hands Out, Give Us Back Our Land and with his brand new collaboration track with Urthboy, Birdz, Coda Conduct, Thundamentals and more called Change The Date. Tuka of Thundamentals came out on stage to show his support.