A hip-hop focussed UK music festival is facing tough new restrictions, with performers reportedly banned from swearing and wearing racy clothing.
Wireless Festival takes place in north London's Finsbury Park and over the past few years has featured several expletive-loving artists including Drake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Post Malone, Young Thug and Rick Ross.
The festival has been granted a license to take place at the public park again in 2019, but only under strict conditions.
Following complaints from locals, the Haringey Council has ruled that Wireless Festival performers "do not sing or play any vulgar, obscene or banned songs or carry out indecent acts or make any vulgar gestures, actions or remarks during the performance".
The musicians must also only wear 'inoffensive' clothing, with the council specifically ruling out "attire which exposes the groin, private parts, buttock or female breast(s)."
The complaints from locals presumably cited hip-hop specifically, as the council's ruling states "the genre of music is not something that can be conditioned on a licence and conditions cannot be based on moral views".
The Haringey Council also concedes that it is "unable to control the language that is being used by the various artists as part of their artistic expression of music".
"Whilst it is appreciated that the use of expletives are unpleasant in nature, it should be noted that such language is heard in everyday life in all walks of life irrespective of whether people are engaged in such conversations or have their hearing impacted by such language in passing on the street or from programmes on television etc".
The 2019 event will also have to finish at 9:30pm on Sunday - 30 minutes earlier than previous years.
Wireless Festival's 2019 line-up has not yet been announced, but its official Twitter account has recently posted about rappers Migos and Ski Mask the Slump God.
Newshub.
