By Lee Roper
British artist Dolly Mavies walked out of her concert last August because U.S. Vice President JD Vance was in attendance.
The singer, whose real name is Molly Davies, told the BBC that she and her band were scheduled to play at Daylesford, a village in the Cotswolds. But they were “suspicious” when they arrived at the venue, and there was a “lot of security around, which there isn’t normally, and then a huge convoy of police motorbikes and very big cars.”
Mavies added that they were told the event was for Vance and that was when she decided to walk out on the gig.
“We decided that we didn’t want to perform and it wasn’t something we wanted to do and entertain him,” she said. “So we decided to leave.”
Mavies said she has been receiving “overwhelming support” from around the globe, especially from Americans, for walking out on Vance.
“I think for a lot of American people there’s a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of people are scared, and it was amazing to feel like they’d been heard,” she told the BBC.
Vance and his family were in the Cotswolds for a vacation at the time, and it was widely reported that he was at the venue. But a person familiar with his plans told the BBC that he was not at the event and had no plans to attend.
Mavies has been accused of orchestrating a PR stunt over the move, a claim she denies.
“We definitely didn’t do that at all. If we were that clever we would have done something before now,” she said. “It riled some people up, and that’s for them to decide… but I do think it’s really interesting because in the grand scheme of things we just chose not to do something.”
We could’ve done something much more extravagant… leaving is the most peaceful way of protest in some way,” she added.
Mavies was not the only person in Cotswold protesting Vance’s visit.
Several protesters threw a ‘not welcome’ party and held signs telling him to “go away.”
