There will not be a 12th Megaport Festival next year, event organizers said on Wednesday, while sources said that the popular music festival was canceled after facing pressure from the administration of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
Organizers said in a statement that it had been feeling growing pressure since the start of this year and they had been asked to submit information on past events.
The festival has become a source of criticism at the Kaohsiung City Council and it is obvious that Han is not interested in supporting it, they said.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
This has consistently stalled progress on organizing next year’s event, which has met with many unexpected obstacles and must be canceled, they said.
The festival, cofounded by metal band Chthonic frontman Freddy Lim (林昶佐), now an independent legislator, is frequently headlined by rock band Fire EX, which promotes Taiwanese independence.
Sources said that Han’s administration has launched a sweeping investigation into alleged illegalities by his predecessor, Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊), while financing for the past 11 Megaport festivals is among the items being scrutinized by Kaohsiung ethics officials.
The independent and free spirit that Megaport embodies will continue to live on in the hearts of everyone, organizers said.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) yesterday said that Tainan would welcome the festival, but organizers declined, saying that they had no plans to hold the festival next year.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that she hoped that the Kaohsiung City Government would cherish and continue to hold the festival.
Additional reporting by Yang Hsin-han and Chiu Shu-yu
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS