Soulshine at Sea Festival Cancelled After Michael Franti Allegations Surface

Hana Gustafson on August 18, 2025

On Sunday, August 17, Michael Franti’s Soulshine at Sea Festival was officially canceled. It was initially intended to take place from Nov. 4-8, 2025. In a post addressing the decision, the organizers, Sixthman, referenced “recent events” as the catalyst behind the dropped occasion. Before the festival made its choice to end it for all, select acts publicly dissociated from Franti’s performance endeavors, on tour, and the festival at large.

Soulshine at Sea’s statement came after Tank and the Bangas shared that they would no longer join Michael Franti & Spearhead’s Welcome to the Family Tour, writing, “While we are not aware of any specific details related to the matter, in light of the recent post made about the artist, we have made the difficult decision to not participate, until we have a better understanding of the facts.”

In the comment section, Victoria Canal, a former Franti collaborator–the pair recorded “The Flower” together in 2019–expressed gratitude using a pair of emojis, healing heart and prayer hands. Notably, Tank and the Bangas’ post arrived five days after Canal broke her silence online, providing a trigger warning related to “sexual abuse, grooming,” and the resulting 12-slide Instagram post that conveys mistreatment and manipulation at the hands of an unnamed “very powerful, decades older man.” Read below.

Like Tank and the Bangas, Dispatch withdrew from Soulshine at Sea, sharing on their public-facing platforms: “We’ve decided we will no longer be performing at Soulshine at Sea. We have been made aware of deeply concerning public allegations involving another artist on the lineup and have chosen to withdraw from the event. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.”

Maggie Rose continued the pattern, delivering her statement online and writing, in part, “There were some troubling allegations made by a peer of mine about another artist on the lineup and I want to stand in solidarity with her.”

Nearly a week after Canal bravely broke her silence, she followed up with more evidence of mistreatment, sharing other people’s stories of mistreatment and abuse.

Franti spoke via social media a week after Canal’s initial statement. In a post, he acknowledged breaking his marital vows, “with an artist who was touring with me.” In a disturbing move to disengage from the accusations, Franti wrote, “I’m aware of the recent posts this artist made about our relationship, and while I support her need to express herself publicly, the relationship was completely consensual based on mutual feelings and attraction.”

Franti added, “I vehemently dispute any version of the story that says otherwise. I will however, take full accountability for not better recognizing the power imbalance as she was younger than me, and I was the headliner on tour. For those reasons alone, I never should have allowed the relationship to become romantic.”

Via Soulshine at Sea’s post, they told folks that “Additional details will be shared tomorrow, Monday, August 18.”

This story is still developing.

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[The following social media posts are presented in chronological order, beginning with Victoria Canal’s initial statement.]

Victoria Canal: