Goldenvoice bans Confederate flag from Stagecoach Country Music Festival
Festival promoter Goldenvoice has banned the Confederate flag and related imagery from this year's Stagecoach Country Music Festival.
The rule was added to the festival's code of conduct.
"Stagecoach provides an inclusive environment and rejects divisive symbols. The Confederate flag and related imagery are prohibited on the festival grounds and in the The Resort – this prohibition applies to people, clothing, and vehicles. Access will be denied to anyone who does not cooperate with this rule."
Stagecoach Code of Conduct
Goldenvoice did not make a major announcement about the change. It appears the rule was quietly added for this year.
The Confederate flag was once a familiar symbol in country music, however, in the past couple of years, many artists have distanced themselves from it.
Last year, current Stagecoach headliner Luke Combs apologized for appearing with Confederate flags in pictures taken 7-8 years ago, saying he is now aware of how painful that flag is.
"I have grown in my time as an artist and as the world has changed drastically in the last five to seven years, I am now aware of how painful that image can be to someone else,” Combs said during a 2021 panel for radio broadcasters about accountability in country music. “I would never want to be associated with something that brings so much hurt to someone else.”
In the same conversation, singer Maren Morris, another 2022 Stagecoach performer, spoke about the Confederate flag. She said that as a native Texan, she also didn’t fully understand the history and context of the flag outside of just “Southern pride” until she was a teenager.
Morris said that seeing that flag being flown at country music festivals makes her not want to play those festivals and urged country artists to demand those flags be removed.
Stagecoach starts this Friday and runs through Sunday. This year's edition of Stagecoach will be headlined by Combs, Thomas Rhett, and Carrie Underwood.
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