The blind singer cancelled for being anti-abortion

Bernarda Brunovic – a blind Swiss Croatian singer – was meant to take the stage at the M4Music festival in Zurich last month. This was a gathering ostensibly devoted to celebrating artistic expression. The festival organisers, Swiss supermarket chain Migros, had other plans. Just a day before, it pulled the plug on Bernarda’s performance. The official justification? ‘Safety of the audience and all participants.’ The real reason? Bernarda’s personal beliefs.

In 2023, she performed at an anti-abortion event in Zurich called the March for Life. This, it seems, was enough to mark her out as beyond the pale. A cadre of online agitators declared her presence intolerable and some even threatened to disrupt the M4Music festival if she was allowed to perform. M4Music surrendered with barely a moment’s hesitation. It hoped the problem would disappear along with her name on the programme.

M4Music claimed to be protecting Bernarda and the festival attendants from protests or violent backlash. But what it really cared about was enforcing ideological conformity. Migros admitted as much when it told left-wing news outlet Tages-Anzeiger that, while the festival does conduct background checks, its vetting process had ‘overlooked’ Bernarda’s past. This is a blatant confession that she was being judged for her political and moral views. The implication is that, had they known about her anti-abortion views, the organisers never would have invited her at all. Clearly, they believe that certain thoughts and certain people are simply unfit for the public stage.

Bernarda, for her part, has responded with grace. ‘I don’t hate anyone’, she said to Tages-Anzeiger. ‘We may have different opinions and, as a result, disagreements, but every single person has their own uniqueness, their own kindness, their own inviolable dignity.’ Unfortunately, the music industry doesn’t seem to share her tolerance.

Then, incredibly, it happened again. The Saturday after the M4Music festival, Bernarda was ready to perform at another event. But before she could even step onstage, her performance was cancelled again. Once more, she was forbidden from singing. This time, Bernarda responded with a video on social media:

‘In the past few days, people have spoken about me, but not to me. I’ve been cancelled, excluded, shut out, treated like a danger to society, like a ruin to other people’s reputation. I’ve been cancelled not just from the M4Music stage, but I’ve also been forbidden to even step on to another stage. I’m an artist, a musician who loves life. And I love and respect all people, regardless of their creed, nationality, ethnicity, race, sexual or political orientation, anything. Everybody’s got their right to their opinion or beliefs, and I’ve also got the right to mine.’

She’s dead right. It is ludicrous that she has been treated like a criminal for simply holding views that others disagree with. What have all these event organisers actually accomplished by banning her? They certainly won’t have changed her mind, or even shut her up, it seems. They have only empowered the mob. They’ve demonstrated that all it takes to silence an artist is a few angry social-media posts. That if you dislike a performer’s views, you don’t need to engage with or debate her. Nor can you simply choose not to listen to her. You can instead threaten disruption, and the event organisers will handle the rest.

A society that allows this kind of ideological policing is in deep trouble. Today it’s Bernarda, but tomorrow it could be anyone. Another singer with the wrong views. A comedian who tells the wrong joke. A filmmaker whose work offends the wrong activists. If the standard for participation in public life is absolute ideological conformity, then soon there won’t be much of a public life left at all.

Andrea Seaman is a writer based in Switzerland.