Governors Ball 2019 - Friday
photo by Gretchen Robinette

Governors Ball responds to accusations of guards using excessive force ++ more pictures

Joe_Henshell: I was wondering what you guys had to say about your security using excessive force? I am in no way condoning the actions of the people destroying the art installations. However your security could have restrained people without using excessive force. I saw security throwing punches at one kid and saw instances of security having to be restrained as they were ready to attack festival goers. My friend was tackled and had his shirt ripped open simply because he was trying to tell security to stop choking someone on the ground. By law private security does not posses the power to use excessive force like police and their actions were very illegal. The actions taken by security did nothing to subdue the situation but instead escalated it. I understand that the actions of a lot of people during the evacuation were unacceptable and I understand this was a chaotic situation for security to deal with, however people like my friend who did nothing to warrant what security did to himshould not have to worry about getting assaulted by your security when going to a festival. What will you guys do to make sure this does not happen in the future?

Team GovBall: We are reviewing both social media and our recorded CCTV footage to analyze exactly what happened here, which security company was involved, which guards, and we will be talking to them about their actions ASAP. No one deserves to be tackled or be the subject of any excessive force. I was watching the people destroy the art pieces and there was a lot of aggression by those people. The guards were dispatched to stop all of it. They should not have used excessive force or any force at all. They should have calmly told people to stop and pointed them in the direction of the nearest exit. First thing we have to do is look at that footage and get all of the info, meet with the security company and supervisors, tell them that under no circumstances is that behavior warranted, and make sure that guards are trained to handle instances like that better. – TR

As promised, Governors Ball organizers did an AMA on Reddit to respond to people’s questions about Sunday’s delayed gates, abbreviated schedule, and later evacuation. One question that came up a lot was about the usage of excess force by security during the evacuation, and you can see their answer to that above. As for the destruction of art, watch that happen in the video below.

Meanwhile, we have some more pictures from all three days of the festival, including bands (Blood Orange, Jorja Smith, and Mitski from Friday, Ty Dolla $ign from Saturday, and Nas from Sunday) and people. Check them out in the galleries above and below.

photos by Gretchen Robinette