By Sarah Chawla, Courier Staff Writer
The lineup for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival was recently released. Fan’s excitement over artists including Beyonce, Radiohead, and Kendrick Lamar as the headliners was quickly diminished with reports resurfacing of Coachella’s owner funding anti-LGBTQ groups.
Philip Anschutz, who operates Goldenvoice, the promoter of the Coachella festival, is known to be a supporter of conservative groups. The former gas and oil businessman has an extensive record of funding anti-LGBTQ, climate change denying, and anti-union groups. According to The Washington Times, he has donated money to the Alliance Defending Freedom, Family Research Council, and National Christian Foundation, which are all anti-LGBTQ groups.
Anschutz has responded to these claims, stating that it’s all “fake news”. He released a statement in the Rolling Stone, saying “I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation. We are fortunate to employ a wealth of diverse individuals throughout our family of companies, all of whom are important to us – the only criteria on which they are judged is the quality of their job performance; we do not tolerate discrimination in any form.”
Fans are disappointed in the news, with many of them vowing not to support the organization anymore. Some are conflicted, since this is the first year that Coachella is headlining their first black woman. One reddit user thinks that “Boycotting Coachella to force this out of touch billionaire change his ways simply wouldn’t work and would put a political stain on the festival which I don’t think anyone wants”. With the conflicts, fans have to weigh the pros and cons to decide whether they want to support the organization.