A musician who was dropped by a Channel 4 music competition after attending an anti-migrant protest has said he had no idea that he had a photograph taken with the leader of Britain First.
Speaking on GB News Dylan Kirk said: “I was due to do a tour of eight dates which I was all very excited for. And obviously, the things on the news and stuff you hear, you can’t exactly escape.
“I don’t tend to use my music as a political platform but I attended a local march in my hometown. I had no idea that this individual, Paul Golding, was going to even attend. I just went to my own reasons and my own concerns.
“I was approached by Paul at the demonstration, and he complimented my style and said, ‘could I have a photo with you?’
“I have photos with loads of people on the music scene. People come up to me asking about my style, and I oblige. And it wasn’t untill afterwards, and all these allegations came out and people saying I’m associated with him, that I actually got to know who he was.
“I found out that there was a group called Merseyside Antifa that was in Liverpool, that was due to know that I was performing a gig in the Cavern Club, and they quickly called them up to get my gig cancelled. And then, following that, I had Dingwalls cancelled as well. So they attacked all my gigs to have them cancelled.
“I went through to the Royal Academy of Music at first to do the pre-televised auditions, which I passed, and then got on through to the televised auditions.
“I then had to do a performance in front of a whole train station so it wasn’t just like hidden away, there were people that saw this. I did my bit, and then the next day we came to find out who would be performing in the final, and I was selected for that.
“A week later I had a phone call to say, we’d found out all that information about you and we are thinking about removing you off the show. How we’re going to do that, we don’t know yet.
“And the week later they told me that I would not be participating in the show. And that was it, basically.
“And as I’ve learned who this individual was, I mean, you know, there’s certain things I believe in, there’s certain things he believes in, but whether I align with that, that doesn’t mean I have my career cancelled.
“I mean, I don’t align with everything he says. I have my own opinions, but my opinions ain’t going to change the world.
“But I don’t use my music as a political platform either, like we’ve seen from musicians like Bob Vylan recently.
“Basically, I just want this all put to be and I want my career to be back to where it used to be; you know, back performing rock and roll music and having a good time.”
