Watch Phoebe Bridgers Lead A “Fuck The Supreme Court” Chant At Glastonbury
Today many artists are reacting to the United States Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. Onstage at the UK mega-festival Glastonbury, Phoebe Bridgers responded to the decision in a way that gave voice to the mass frustration over the ruling. Reflecting on her experience playing the fest, Bridgers told the crowd, “In all honesty, it’s like super surreal and fun, but I’m having like the shittiest day. Are there any Americans here?” She then led a chant of “Fuck the Supreme Court!” Bridgers added, “Fuck that shit. Fuck America. Like, fuck you. All these irrelevant old motherfuckers trying to tell us what to do with our fucking bodies.”
When a draft of the court’s decision was leaked last month, Bridgers shared her own abortion story, writing, “I had an abortion in October of last year while I was on tour. I went to planned parenthood where they gave me the abortion pill. It was easy. Everyone deserves that kind of access.”
She elaborated on that story in an interview with the Guardian published today. In reaction to how widely her original statement was shared: “I’ve always found comfort in talking to people in passing – when someone’s mom says: ‘I had an abortion when I was a teen.’ It normalized it for me. I was, ‘All right, it’s time to throw my hat into that pool.’ … That’s not a phrase, I just made that up. But I didn’t think about it, really, at all.”
Her point, she explained, was that, “as a white, upper-middle-class woman from California, even if it were to be overturned, I will always have access. I have a friend who went to medical school – every time I need a doctor, I say, ‘Do you have someone that you recommend?’ So I would just go: ‘Hey, where do I go for the thing? Wink-wink.’ The people with access will always have access. What pisses me off is that we’re not talking about me. It’s so easy: I played in Texas the same week, and then I went home and was like: oh my God. Made the appointment. It was 12 hours of my life.”
Bridgers also pressed back against “people with good intentions saying: ‘Don’t say it was easy for you to make that decision – it was clearly really emotional.’ And I wasn’t fucking emotional at all. Hormonally crazy! But I don’t think you should assign ‘it tore me up’ to me. No! I don’t think about it as a baby, of course not.”
Watch footage of the chant at Glastonbury below.