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Radiohead Respond to Stage Collapse Case Decision: “We Are Appalled”

GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND - JUNE 23: Thom Yorke from Radiohead performs on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival site at Worthy Farm in Pilton on June 23, 2017 near Glastonbury, England. Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is the largest greenfield festival in the world. It was started by Michael Eavis in 1970 when several hundred hippies paid just £1, and now attracts more than 175,000 people. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Radiohead have issued an official statement in response to the stay issued on the court case stemming from the collapse of the stage at a 2012 concert in Toronto, which killed Scott Johnson, the band’s drum tech at the time. On Tuesday, Judge Ann Nelson ruled that the case against Live Nation, the contracted stage company Optex Staging, and engineer Dominec Cugliari had “taken too long to complete,” and discontinued all further proceedings on the grounds that “timely justice is…important to our society at large.”

In their statement, Radiohead writes that the non-verdict “an insult to the memory of Scott Johnson, his parents and our crew” that offered “no consolation, closure, or assurance that this kind of accident will not happen again. Thom Yorke also individually responded to the Canadian court’s decision on Wednesday, along with Dan Snaith of Caribou, who was also slated to perform at the Toronto concert. Read the band’s full statement below.