Singer Sarah McLachlan, the Canadian recording artist who rose to fame in the 1990s, is getting mixed reactions for refusing to perform at Disney’s “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery” documentary premiere.
The 57-year-old was slated to perform on Sunday but later pulled out due to her disagreement with “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” being suspended indefinitely by ABC as of last week, per Deadline. The red carpet event for the premiere was also canceled at the last minute, as several individuals involved in the project protested Kimmel being “censored.”
McLachlan was one of the founders of Lilith Fair, a traveling music festival featuring female musicians that ran from 1997 to 1999 and was revived in 2010. She appears in the documentary, which is distributed by ABC News Studios, a subsidiary of Disney.
“It’s a gift for all of us to see [this film], but also I’ve 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’ve made watching the insidious erosion of women’s rights, of trans and queer rights, the muzzling of free speech,” she said.
“I think we’re 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’t 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.”
“If 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,” McLachlan added. “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’re all in this together.”
She apologized to fans who found the cancellation “disappointing,” saying she and singer Jewel both chose to cancel their performances “in support of free speech.”
This led to mockery online, with many pointing out that it was as if McLachlan was canceling herself.
“The right to free speech does not encompass the right to be perennially unprofitable,” one person on X said, referencing the Kimmel situation.
“This isn’t about free speech. It’s about bad jokes and bad ratings,” another agreed.
“So… they’re cancelling themselves?” a third commenter wrote.
Many celebrities and public figures have spoken out against the suspension of Kimmel’s late-night show, claiming it is a violation of free speech. The host falsely insinuated that the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk was part of the “MAGA gang.”
Kimmel had stated in his monologue, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”