On Wednesday, August 21, queer Irish influencer Cian Griffin, better known on socials under the name Gaylgeoirí, appeared on Newtalk’s Lunchtime Live, calling out homophobia he experienced at the Electric Picnic festival last weekend.
This year marked the 20th anniversary of Electric Picnic, with the festival gathering a crowd of 75,000 people for its biggest edition ever. The event took place at the Stradbally Estate from August 16 to 18, with headliners like Kylie Minogue, Noah Kahan, Calvin Harris, Bambie Thug, CMAT and more.
While the festival was a success in many respects, Cian Griffin spoke about several episodes of explicit homophobia he experienced during Electric Picnic. Speaking to Lunchtime Live presenter Andrea Gilligan, the influencer shared: “I was wearing a pair of black cargo pants and a long sleeve top. Nothing outlandish considering it was a festival.
“And all day long, just homophobic comments on the outfit. People calling me slurs, people pointing and laughing at me. People literally coming up and roaring in my face.
“Crazy stuff. One of my friends had a drink thrown over them, someone tried to start a fight with me. In 2024, shocking that this is still happening,” he said.
When asked by Gilligan about the age profile of these people, he explained: “You’d expect it to be coming from younger, more immature people. But I’m talking adults. Like, 50s and 60s, people as old as my parents.
“It’s shocking that people of that generation are still so backwards, and confident in being so outwardly hateful. It really shocked me,” he added.
@newstalkfm ‘In 2024 it’s shocking that this is still happening.’ A man who faced homophobic slurs at Electric Picnic has said bystanders ‘shook their heads’ but nobody spoke up. Cian Griffin told @Andrea G on Lunchtime Live, that he faced homophobic comments “all day long” over an outfit he wore at the festival. #ireland #irishtiktok #electricpicnic #newstalk ♬ original sound – Newstalk
The presenter then asked how he reacted to such abuse, with Griffin replying: “I feared that I was going to be attacked. And so I just ignored them. Took the slight, chin up and walked on. And that’s easy for me to do.
“I’ve heard a lot worse. But there was a lot of young people at that festival. I can’t imagine me at 18 being able to just move on and not let it affect me.
“That’s why I wanted to speak up. I mean, there were bystanders that were seeing what happened, and some of them shook their heads with disapproval, but no one really spoke up.”
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Discussing this further with GCN, the influencer added: “So many people were visibly not ok with it, but no one actually used their voice to speak up. If you’re someone who considers themselves an ally to Black people, to gay people, to trans people, to women… trust me when I say we are sick of using our voices to educate people and to stand up for ourselves constantly.
“And it goes a really long way when someone who isn’t us but is present, who witnesses what happens, uses their voice to empower us or to defend us and to put them in their place,” Griffin said.
“The people that feel empowered and confident enough to make such hateful comments publicly,” he continued, “those people will get so used to it being acceptable for them to be verbally abusive that it will lead to physical violence.”
Griffin concluded by saying: “Hate legislation is needed by our government, but in the meantime, allies need to use their voices for people that have had theirs silenced.”
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