Given the historical parallels between the troubles and the current gaza conflict, It's not exactly surprising specifically Irish musicians decided to boycott.
No, but a lot of money was left on the table. That's always a little surprising.
What's surprising to me is that SXSW thought getting sponsorship from companies whose products have killed over 30,000 Palestinians in a matter of months was a smart and cool thing to do.
To then have the additional hubris of trying to legally intimidate critics with farcical threats is actually a little surprising too. Like, dig up, dipshits.
In these kind of events it's not uncommon that those who actually run the show and those who handle the money side of things are usually very different groups, with very little communication between them. Pitchfork Music Festival had a similar incident a few years ago.
