Is Avril Lavigne Against Climate Activism?
Avril Lavigne got flashed big time, but it was for a good cause. The singer’s reaction has people divided. So what happened?
Avril Lavigne was introducing musician AP Dhillon at the 2023 Juno Awards in Edmonton, Canada when she was brazenly interrupted by a topless climate activist.
The protester, who is part of the On2Ottawa climate action group, hopped on stage and started showing off the writings on her body.
Some of them included “Save the Green Belt” and “Stop logging old growth now”, referring to the protected land slated for housing development in Ontario, Canada. Good cause, poor execution?
The woman, identified as Casey “Ever” Hatherly, seems to have no regrets, despite facing charges of mischief.
After her hearing, the protester gave her statement to the press and was generally quite pleased with the outcome and the attention that her disruption (and subsequently her cause) received, mentioning “Everybody just saw a topless protester, but they’re looking now.”
Guess that is a win?
Lavigne remained fairly calm throughout the incident and later addressed it in her acceptance speech for the TikTok Juno Fan Choice Award, saying, “Now nobody try anything this time or the Canadian’s gonna come out of me and I’ll beat someone up”.
Given the singer’s punk rock past, we wouldn’t dare doubt her!
After the 52nd Juno Awards, Avril thanked her fans and poked fun at the situation in a tweet, quoting her own harsh words to the protester.
Avril’s handling of the situation was praised by the host of the ceremony and many of her fans.
However, some people (as usual) are unhappy with Lavigne’s reaction, saying that the singer should have “handed the protester the mic” and that she is “out of touch”.
Fans feel that celebrities in general should be more supportive of activists instead of “bringing them down”, even when their protests take on such a drastic form. Well, it is easy for them to say…
Our Punk Princess’ most devoted fans are quick to defend their fave, pointing out that the situation was unexpected, the topless woman was out of bounds, and that Avril is just a human being like the rest of us, who has the right to react to this kind of situations like anyone else.
We do not know about you but we would personally be anxious too if a topless person jumped out of nowhere and joined us on stage for whatever reason that is.
After all, it is not a safe world out there…