Sexual Misconduct Allegations - Arcade Fire's frontman

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Singer-songwriter Feist has walked away from her support slot on Arcade Fire's world tour, after the band's frontman was accused of sexual misconduct.

Four people have accused Win Butler of behaving inappropriately, with allegations including forceful touching and unwanted, sexual text messages.

The allegations, which Butler denies, emerged on Saturday, shortly before the first date of the band's world tour.

Feist, who played the first two dates, says she has now decided to "go home".

"The best way to take care of my band and crew and my family is to distance myself from this tour [but] not this conversation," she added.

The allegations against Butler emerged in an investigation by music publication Pitchfork.

The three women, and one gender-fluid person, accused the singer of taking advantage of his fame and their fandom during incidents that occurred between 2015 and 2020, when Butler was aged between 34 and 39.

In two statements to Pitchfork, Butler denied all allegations, saying that sexual interactions he had with the four people were consensual, but apologised "to anyone who I have hurt with my behaviour".

Arcade Fire have faced calls to scrap their tour, but have so far continued to play, with dates in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and London scheduled for the coming week.

Meanwhile, Butler's wife and fellow Arcade Fire member Régine Chassagne released a statement in defence of Butler.

"I know what is in his heart, and I know he has never, and would never, touch a woman without her consent and I am certain he never did," she said.

"He has lost his way and he has found his way back. I love him and love the life we have created together."

Several radio stations in Canada have officially pulled Arcade Fire's music from playlists following allegations of sexual misconduct against Win Butler, which the musician has denied.

Toronto station Indie88 as well as CBC Music's FM station and CiriusXM CBC Radio 3 station released statements this week to announce that airplay of the Canadian rock band's music is paused until further notice, per CBC News.

One day after the Pitchfork story dropped, Ian March, Indie88's program director, told CBC News, "I can confirm that we made a quick decision over the weekend to pull the band's music. We have not yet had a fulsome internal conversation about the permanence of this decision."

CBC's head of public affairs, Chuck Thompson, told the outlet CBC Music has made the same decision. "In light of the recent allegations against Win Butler, CBC Music will pause on playing Arcade Fire's music until we learn more about the situation," he said.

In addition to the Canadian stations' formal announcements that Arcade Fire's music has been pulled from playlists, Minnesota radio host Bill Childs told CBC News he's observed six United States radio stations that regularly play the band's songs stop doing since the allegations became public.

"I'm always curious about how radio stations respond when core artists of theirs get caught up in allegations of whatever sort," Childs said.

Arcade Fire have faced calls to scrap their tour, but have so far continued to play, with dates in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and London scheduled for the coming week.

Meanwhile, Butler's wife and fellow Arcade Fire member Régine Chassagne released a statement in defence of Butler.

"I know what is in his heart, and I know he has never, and would never, touch a woman without her consent and I am certain he never did," she said.

"He has lost his way and he has found his way back. I love him and love the life we have created together."