Glastonbury 2017: Stormzy demands Government is 'held accountable' for Grenfell Tower disaster

Justice for Grenfell: Stormzy performing on the Other Stage
Rex Features
Hatty Collier25 June 2017

Grime artist Stormzy demanded the Government is “held accountable” for the Grenfell Tower disaster as he paid tribute to the victims during his set at Glastonbury.

The London star called for the authorities involved to “tell the truth” over the tragedy that left 79 people dead as he performed on the Other Stage on Saturday night.

Stormzy, real name Michael Omari, paused to remember those caught up in the fire that destroyed the west London tower block on June 14, during his set on The Other Stage.

Unzipping his tracksuit to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with a heart-shaped logo reading "Grenfell", he told the crowd: "We are urging the authorities to tell the truth, first and foremost, to do something, first and foremost, and we are urging the Government to be held accountable."

The performer, along with a host of stars including Robbie Williams and Liam Payne, recorded a charity version of Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water to raise funds for those affected by the disaster.

Stormzy's verse, which opens the chart-topper organised by Simon Cowell, includes the lyrics: "I refuse to neglect you/That's for every last soul up in Grenfell/Even though I've never met you."

Jeremy Corbyn speaks on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury: 'We are doing things differently'
PA

Performing before him on Saturday, Liam Gallagher also dedicated Oasis hit Don't Look Back In Anger to the London victims, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn mentioned the incident during his Pyramid Stage speech.

Stormzy led the crowd in a chant of “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn” to the tune of White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, which has become a Glastonbury anthem this year.

He later tweeted: “Jeremy Corbyn is a real life legend, me and my brothers have never believed in a politician in our life times. His sons are legends too.”

The grime star delighted his fans with an adrenalin-charged set, performing tracks from his number one debut album Gang Signs And Prayer.

Stormzy delighted fans with tracks from his number one debut album Gang Signs and Prayers
PA

Glastonbury 2017 - In pictures

1/60

His set also included a heartfelt tribute to his mother and he later handed his jacket to a young boy in the front row of the crowd.

At least 79 people died in the fire, but police fear they may never know the true picture
Jeremy Selwyn

Stormzy spoke out about the Grenfell Tower tragedy as up to 4,000 people were preparing to spend their second night away from home after they were evacuated from their flats in Camden over safety fears linked to the disaster.

Camden Council evacuated four tower blocks on the Chalcots estate late on Friday night and said it could be up to four weeks before residents could return.

Safety concerns: Residents evacuate Chalcots Estate tower blocks in Camden
EPA

The Government also announced on Saturday that the number of blocks found to have failed safety tests had risen again as an urgent nationwide inspection is carried out on the cladding used on the outsides of buildings.

It said that 34 blocks of flats in 17 local authority areas have not paid the cladding rests - rising from 27 buildings cited earlier in the day.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in