{"id":161780,"date":"2025-09-22T16:29:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/161780\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T16:29:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T16:29:12","slug":"sarah-mclachlan-says-musical-performances-canceled-amid-calls-for-free-speech-following-jimmy-kimmel-suspension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/161780\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah McLachlan Says Musical Performances Canceled Amid Calls for Free Speech Following Jimmy Kimmel Suspension"},"content":{"rendered":"

The musical performances scheduled to take place at Sunday night\u2019s premiere of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery have been canceled as Disney \u2014 parent company of the doc\u2019s distributor, ABC News Studios \u2014 continues to deal with the fallout from last week\u2019s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the previously scheduled musical performances will not take place, we invite you to stay for a reception following the screening to celebrate the documentary,\u201d organizers said in a statement Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

More from The Hollywood Reporter<\/p>\n

At the premiere, Lilith Fair co-founder Sarah McLachlan, who also appears in the documentary, introduced the film ahead of the screening. She announced that the performances were canceled in a move of solidarity to support free speech.<\/p>\n

McLachlan began her remarks by noting that she struggled with what to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a gift for all of us to see [this film], but also I\u2019ve grappled with being here tonight and around what to say about the present situation that we are all faced with, the stark contraction to the many advances we\u2019ve made watching the insidious erosion of women\u2019s rights, of trans and queer rights, the muzzling of free speech,\u201d McLachlan said. \u201cI think we\u2019re all fearful for what comes next, and none of us know, but what I do know is that I have to keep pushing forward as an artist, as a woman to find a way through, and though I don\u2019t begin to know what the answer is, I believe we all need to work towards a softening to let in the possibility of a better way, because I see music as a bridge to our shared humanity, to finding common ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cIf Lilith taught me anything, it taught me there is a great strength in coming together to lift each other up instead of tearing each other down. So I really hope this documentary inspires everyone to continue to try and create positive change in your communities, to keep lifting each other up, keep championing the causes you believe in with kindness and empathy because ultimately we\u2019re all in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toward the end of her remarks, she broke the news about the performances being canceled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you\u2019re expecting a performance tonight, and I\u2019m so grateful to all of you for coming, and I apologize if this is disappointing, but we have collectively decided not to perform but instead to stand in solidarity in support of free speech,\u201d McLachlan said, receiving loud applause in support. She added, \u201cThank you for your understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the invitation to the event did not specify who was planning to perform \u2014 it teased only that \u201cspecial surprise performances\u201d were scheduled \u2014 a source tells The Hollywood Reporter that McLachlan and Jewel were the artists set to take the stage, along with another surprise guest. THR has reached out to reps for the event for more information. Puck\u2019s Matt Belloni reported that Olivia Rodrigo was the surprise guest set. Rodrigo appears in the final moments of the documentary in an interview segment during which she praised the Lilith Fair artists as her \u201cNorth stars.\u201d A separate source confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that singer Mya, who appeared on the Lilith Fair tour as she was just breaking out as a successful R&B artist, was also due to hit the stage Sunday night and was in attendance.<\/p>\n

Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery retraces the iconic music festival that went on tour in the late 1990s and featured female solo acts and bands. A portion of the 1-hour, 39-minute documentary was dedicated to how the artists faced protests, backlash and even a free speech fight during stops of the tour. While in Houston, organizers had partnered with Planned Parenthood to set up a booth on the venue grounds with reps handing out condoms. Conservative pro-life groups criticized the move as did venue officials by attempting to ban the organization from participating. Joan Osborne explained that Planned Parenthood was eventually allowed in but artists were prohibited from discussing or promoting the organization during their sets. Osborne resisted, saying she didn\u2019t enter into such an agreement, so she wore a Planned Parenthood T-shirt.<\/p>\n

Before Sunday\u2019s screening, a slide noted that ABC News Studios and Hulu support the Downtown Women\u2019s Center, which helps homeless women and gender diverse individuals; LGBTQ+ advocacy group PFLAG; and the Geena Davis Institute, which works to improve representations of women and girls in media. QR codes for each organization were displayed for moviegoers to find out more.<\/p>\n

Also in the audience at the event, taking place at The Ford in Los Angeles, are singer Lisa Loeb, actor-comedian Mae Martin and actor Charlie Barnett. Meanwhile, the event hosted a red carpet ahead of the screening, but it did not include any members of the press.<\/p>\n

The news comes as Disney continues to deal with the fallout from the suspension of Kimmel following the ABC late-night host\u2019s remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n

After station owners Nexstar and Sinclair said they would not be airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the wake of those comments, Disney made the decision to suspend Kimmel indefinitely. The company has faced backlash<\/a> from Hollywood A-listers<\/a>, current and veteran<\/a> late-night hosts<\/a>, politicians and the public for its decision, with many accusing Disney of bowing to pressure from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Ally Pankiw directed the doc. Dan Levy is a producer on the film, and Diane Sawyer is executive producer. All three, along with McLachlan, were on hand at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month for the film\u2019s premiere.<\/p>\n

The documentary was released Sunday on Hulu and Disney+.<\/p>\n

Stacey Wilson Hunt contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Best of The Hollywood Reporter<\/p>\n

Sign up for THR’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The musical performances scheduled to take place at Sunday night\u2019s premiere of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[84052,84051,49,48,361,3494,75,6676,4592,83714,42651,84053,80984,83258,23568],"class_list":{"0":"post-161780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-abc-news-studios","9":"tag-building-a-mystery","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-celebrities","13":"tag-disney","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-free-speech","16":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","17":"tag-lilith-fair","18":"tag-olivia-rodrigo","19":"tag-planned-parenthood","20":"tag-sarah-mclachlan","21":"tag-sunday-afternoon","22":"tag-the-hollywood-reporter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}