Organizers of Thunder Bay’s Wake the Giant music festival have apologized after 2026 headliner Flo Rida used alcohol bottles as props during his performance at the sober event Saturday (Sept. 12).
“The team at Wake the Giant would like to apologize and acknowledge the harm caused by Flo Rida’s performance last night,” organizers wrote in a statement posted on social media yesterday (September 13). “The props used were not approved by the organizers and we made it clear to the artist team that this was a sober event and that alcohol was not permitted on our stage.”
“Our team shares the pain and disappointment that many people are feeling today, and we want to assure you that this performance does not align with the values of Wake the Giant or the North Nishnawbe Board of Education,” they continued. “We take responsibility for booking the artist and will use the lessons learned from this experience to ensure that our core values are at the forefront when selecting artists in the future.”
Local resident Esther Maud, who attended the event to show her support for the community as well as her son and his youth drum group, Charging Thunder, which opened the show, told CBC she appreciated the festival’s efforts but said Wake the Giant’s apology left a lot to be desired, especially because the performance was “really hard and really moving for a lot of people.”
Maude, now in her sixth year of abstaining from alcohol, left shortly after Flo Rida performed her third song as more and more bottles of alcohol appeared on stage during the drug-free event. “I was just thinking and excited that I would be able to see in person someone that I kind of grew up listening to,” she explained. “So it didn’t even dawn on me what he was like or what he even sang and put into his music.”
The full statement Wake the Giant posted on Facebook can be read below. The festival will be on hold next year due to upgrades to the Thunder Bay waterfront.
The team at Wake the Giant would like to apologize and acknowledge the harm caused by Flo Rida’s performance last night. The props used were not approved by the organizers and we made it clear to the artist team that this was a sober event and alcohol was not permitted on our stage.
Our team shares the pain and disappointment that many people are feeling today, and we want to assure you that this performance does not align with the values of Wake the Giant or the North Nishnawbe Board of Education. We take responsibility for booking an artist and learn from the experience to ensure that our core values are at the forefront when selecting artists in the future.
Wake the Giant prides itself on being a sober event. The goal of the movement and festival is to raise awareness of a safe and inclusive environment for Indigenous students.