Reading and Leeds 2021 festivals slammed for having all-male headliners

The Reading and Leeds Festivals have been slammed for its all-male line-up of headliners for 2021.

The popular British music event usually takes place in August each year and sees some of music’s biggest names perform for crowds of fans, but the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to the 2020 shows.

While festival-goers will be very keen for the event to be back next summer, some have been disappointed by the selection of artists performing.

Tickets went on sale today for the 2021 festival, with headliners being Stormzy, Liam Gallagher, Post Malone, Disclosure, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Queens of the Stone Age.

Noticeably, none of these headliners are female performers and this has led to some complaints.

Despite the likes of Doja Cat and Mabel appearing further down the listings, the lack of representation at the top was a sore point.

Taking to Twitter, one person complained: “It’s actually embarrassing for Reading and Leeds to have doubled the headliner slots, and still not name a woman as one especially when there are countless options breaking through, no excuses.”

Another wrote: “in the past 20 years of reading and leeds only two women have headlined that festival that’s 2 out of 71 acts who had a women in their band play this need to be changed especially when there are so amazing amazing women who can easily headline better than catfish and lg could”.

Meanwhile, another music fan questioned: “Do Reading & Leeds just forget about the controversy they cause every year by not having any women on the lineup?”

Elsewhere, a different person commented and was not impressed at all: “Even if u ignore the fact Reading and Leeds like to act as though women don’t make music… the line up this year is a complete sack of s**t when u consider what it used to look like in the 90s/early 2000s. Idk maybe I’m a music snob but it’s just v lame to me”.

Finally, one debated whether it was worth slamming the festival for the decisions at all: “People complaining that there’s no women headliners for reading and Leeds. Why would u pick someone just Cos they’re a woman?”

According to the Evening Standard, only 12 per cent of acts at the festival in 2019 were women.

The only time a woman has fronted the festival was with the band Paramore in 2014, which is fronted by lead singer Hayley Williams.

Mirror Online has reached out to Reading and Leeds Festivals owners Festival Republic for comment.

Reading and Leeds Festivals will return om August 27, 2021.

Do you think the festival should have an even gender split? Let us know in the comments below.