Organizers of the largest festival in Burke County said Friday that headliner, the Artimus Pyle Band, will not be playing.
“I am very disappointed to have to announce that the Artimus Pyle Band and The Historic Morganton Festival, Inc. will by mutual agreement, be canceling the contract to perform at the 40th Annual Morganton Festival”, stated Sharon Jablonski, Director of HMF, Inc.
The Historic Morganton Festival in September attracts tens of thousands of people each year, filling the streets of downtown Morganton. This year, an online petition is trying to keep the band from performing because Pyle is a registered sex offender in North Carolina. He’s also a former drummer for the band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Pyle denies the allegations.
“The backlash on social media has prompted threats, to not only the HMF, Inc. and City of Morganton, but additionally to festival sponsors and to other scheduled performers, causing one to withdraw. It has become apparent that the performance by The Artimus Pyle Band cannot go on,” Jablonski said Friday in a news release.
According to the sex offender registry, Pyle was convicted of felony capital first-degree attempted sexual battery in Florida in 1993.
The Artimus Pyle Band released the following statement on the cancellation:
“I regret not being able to perform but understand and do not wish to cause any further division or controversy in the place I now call home. We are making this decision in the best interest of the community and the Morganton Festival”