Stormzy used his Glastonbury performance on Saturday (24 June) night to make a bold statement, following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower.
The ‘Big For Your Boots’ rapper was performing on The Other Stage at Worthy Farm, when he paused for a moment of reflection during his set.
First, he unzipped his tracksuit to reveal a ‘Grenfell’ t-shirt, at which point he told fans in the crowd: “We are urging the authorities to tell the truth, first and foremost, to do something, first and foremost, and we are urging the Government to be held accountable.”
The Grenfell Tower disaster took the lives of 79 people, with flammable cladding widely blamed for helping to fuel the blaze by those who lived there.
Residents also told HuffPost UK shortly after the tragic incident that a lack of fire alarms, sprinklers and exit points also contributed to the fatalities.
Stormzy is one of more than 50 artists who contributed vocals to a recent charity single, which will help raise money for those affected by the tower block blaze in west London last week, distributed via The London Community Foundation.
He opens the cover of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ with an original verse, during which he’s heard rapping: “I refuse to forget you. I refuse to be silenced. I refuse to neglect you.
“As for every last soul up in Grenfell, even though I’ve never met you, that could be my mum’s house. That could be my nephew.
“That could have been me up there, waving my white plain tee up there, With my friends on the ground trying to see up there. I just hope that you rest and you’re free up there.”
His comments on Grenfell Tower weren’t Stormzy’s only political statements at Glastonbury, though, as he also led the crowd in a chant of “oh, Jeremy Corbyn”, having been one of the artists who supported the #Grime4Corbyn movement during the recent general election.
