Roe vs Wade: Olivia Rodrigo and Lily Allen protest US Supreme Court ruling at Glastonbury
Olivia Rodrigo brought out Lily Allen during her Glastonbury Festival set to perform the singer’s hit song F**k You in response to the US Supreme Court’s abortion ruling.
The singers protested the court's decision to overturn the landmark Roe vs Wade case, ending the country’s constitutional right to abortion.
American pop star Rodrigo, 19, surprised the crowd at the Other Stage on Saturday by introducing the 37-year-old British singer, describing it as “the biggest dream come true” to perform alongside her.
However, Rodrigo said she was also feeling mixed emotions as following the reversal of the 1973 Roe v Wade case on Friday, that had left her “devastated and terrified”.
The singer said: “Today is a very special day because it’s actually my first Glastonbury and I’m sharing the stage with Lily, which is the biggest dream come true.
“But I’m also equally as heartbroken over what happened in America yesterday. The Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v Wade, which is a law that ensures a woman’s right to receive abortion and other basic human rights.
“I’m devastated and terrified, so many women and so many girls are going to die because of this.”
As she introduced Allen’s hit song, titled F**k You, she added: “I wanted to dedicate this next song to five members of the Supreme Court who have shown us that at the end of the day they truly don’t give a s**t about freedom.”
As Rodrigo’s band played, the opening chords the crowd erupted into cheers.
She joins a number of musicians who have condemned the decision, including Billie Eilish, Idles and Phoebe Bridgers.
Singer-songwriter Eilish led criticism during her history-making performance on Friday night as the youngest solo headline performer, hours after it was announced the US court had reversed the 1973 Roe v Wade case that legalised abortion nationwide.
She spoke out against the controversial ruling as she introduced her song Your Power, which explores people abusing their power.
Sitting with her brother Finneas O’Connell, she said: “The song we’re about to do is, I think, one of the favourites that we’ve written and it’s about the concept of power and how we need to always remember how not to abuse it.
“And today is a really, really dark day for women in the US. I’m just going to say that as I cannot bear to think about it any longer in this moment.”
On Instagram, Eilish commented further on the Supreme Court ruling, saying: “This is so unbelievable. The fight isn’t over.”
Joe Talbot, frontman of Idles, was heard to say the court’s decision had taken the US “back to the Middle Ages” during the rock band’s performance on Friday.
Addressing huge crowds from Glastonbury’s Other Stage, he said: “This is for every mother and every woman and her right to choose whether she is a mother or not. Long live the open-minded, long live my mother, and long live every single one of you.”
Meanwhile, American singer-songwriter Bridgers led chants of “F**k the Supreme Court” during her Friday evening performance on the John Peel Stage.
Protests took place across the America and the UK after the decision to scrap the constitutional right to abortion in the United States.
The ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half of all US states.
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