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Metro
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
I won't risk my safety by seeing Charli XCX at Glastonbury 2025
Having been eight times, I'd never felt unsafe at Glastonbury. Murmurs of crowds becoming claustrophobic and even potentially dangerous felt like a myth or unfortunate chaos that belonged in the past. That was until I was in the crush to get to Sugababes. In 2022, they were performing at the Avalon stage, a pop-friendly area with my name written all over it. It has seen some of the greatest artists from the Smash Hits era finally make it to Worthy Farm, when it would have been unthinkable to see them on the bill 20 years ago. The Avalon stage has a capacity of around 3,000 people and Sugababes were playing in the early evening. They've had six number one singles, four platinum albums and headlined the 02 Arena this year – clearly a 3,000 capacity stage wasn't going to accommodate one of the most successful artists on the Glastonbury bill. But somehow we managed to make it into the stage. I couldn't see Mutya, Keisha or Siobhan at any point but we made it in when thousands of others didn't, and endured the fresh hell of being part of the stampede trying to get into the tent. The Astroworld crush, which killed 10 people during rapper Travis Scott's gig, was just the year before and while Glastonbury would never let anything like that happen, it was still suffocating enough to cling onto friends and begin to panic. It was the first time I've ever been genuinely quite scared at Glastonbury and was sure I would never find myself in the same precarious situation again. Jump two years and Sugababes were back at Glastonbury, this time bumped up to the West Holts Stage – a significant upgrade with a 30,000 capacity, but still, it was obviously going to be another health and safety nightmare. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Stewards were trying to enforce a one-way system but there's only so much a handful of volunteers in high-vis jackets can do when there are thousands of fans with tunnel vision slipping through the net. They played on a Friday afternoon, clashing with Paul Heaton who was on The Pyramid, and once again it was an unnerving crush to see Push The Button live at Worthy Farm. I've spoken with friends and, after our previous experiences, many of us are concerned about this year. Subsequently, I've made the decision to avoid seeing the artist I was most excited to see. Charli XCX has by far been the most colossally important artist of the last 12 months. It was impossible not to get swept away by the Brat summer of 2024, whether you were a party girl functioning on Golden Virginia and Smirnoff Ice or you were just a spectator enjoying the ride from afar. She is the moment and I don't have a doubt she'll bring in the biggest crowd of the entire festival. Last year, she played a DJ set at Silver Hayes and thousands of people turned up just to watch her spin decks. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Huge crowds were turned away disappointed and it became one of the most celebrated moments of the weekend. It wasn't even a full Charli XCX show and the crowd was determined, engrossed and, more importantly, humongous. It is unthinkable, then, that she isn't topping off her Brat era on The Pyramid Stage where almost the entire festival could – and would – descend as one 170,000-strong army. Instead, she is on at The Other Stage, which has under half the capacity of the Pyramid, and sadly where I wouldn't dare try to see her. Last year Avril Lavigne performed on The Other Stage, her last hit single now 14 years old, and crowds complained they felt crushed as the swarm of fans expanded into camping areas. The thought of Charli on The Other Stage is genuinely terrifying and while every single person I know is dead set on watching her set, reluctantly I just can't face it. Glastonbury offers assurances every year that it always has a 'robust, dynamic crowd management plan in place', which I don't doubt, and Emily Eavis has admitted they've sold fewer tickets this year in an attempt to avert crushes. But logistically, I don't see how they can possibly keep the enormous Brat army confined to the limited space surrounding The Other Stage. At best it will be unbearable, at the very worst, potentially dangerous. There is a clash which might thin the crowd ever so slightly with rapper Doechi performing at the same time, but I can't see that being much of a deterrent for fiercely loyal Charli fans. More Trending It's sad that Glastonbury seems to specifically treat its pop artists this way, sidelining them to smaller stages, undermining their enormous fanbases and essentially losing grasp on its evolving identity. Granted, Olivia Rodrigo is closing the Pyramid Stage, but would it have been too much to have two humongous popstars headlining the same weekend? Glastonbury needs to realise what it is and who it's for before someone gets hurt. Yes, I am very lucky to be able to be in the field come the last weekend of June, but I can't deny I'm absolutely gutted that seeing Charli just feels like a dangerous option, which could so easily have been avoided. Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailing Share your views in the comments below. MORE: How to find Glastonbury's secret spots according to people who've been before MORE: I've applied for 38 jobs and got nowhere – I blame ageism MORE: Glastonbury organiser reveals drastic measure taken after crowd-crush fears
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Jif peanut butter has never been called 'Jiffy'
Claim: Jif-brand peanut butter originally had the name "Jiffy." Rating: For years, internet users have claimed that Jif-brand peanut butter once had the name "Jiffy." Dozens of TikTok videos have engaged with the claim. Videos posted to YouTube also exemplified the common mix-up. One example, a 50-second clip from the game show "The Pyramid," showed a contestant describing a unit of time – a "jiffy" – as "peanut butter." The word "jiffy," which Merriam-Webster defines as "a very short period of time," is not – and has never been – the name of the popular peanut butter product. As a result, we've rated the claim false. The peanut butter company writes on its website: We have always been called Jif® since our company was first founded in 1958! Jif's website also says the company chose the name "because it was easy to say, spell and remember!" As writers for publications like Esquire and Yahoo have noted, confusion over the brand's name is an example of the "Mandela Effect," a phenomenon the Cleveland Clinic describes as a collective misremembering of facts or details about a particular person, event or pop culture object. As Snopes previously reported, this categorization of false memories is "named after the widespread but incorrect notion that South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela died in prison during the 1980s." In actuality, Mandela was released in 1990 and became South Africa's first Black president before dying 23 years later. For decades, Snopes has investigated dozens of Mandela Effect claims on the internet, including whether the chocolate bar is named "KitKat" or "Kit-Kat" and whether Mr. Monopoly wore a monocle. For a complete list of Mandela Effects Snopes has examined throughout the years, check out this list. - YouTube. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025. ---. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025. "40 Mandela Effect Examples That Will Blow Your Mind." Esquire, 8 Feb. 2022, "40 Mandela Effect Examples That Will Make You Question Everything." Yahoo Life, 8 Apr. 2021, Definition of JIFFY. 5 Apr. 2025, Dobrin, Nikki. "KitKat or Kit-Kat: The Chocolate Bar's Mandela Effect." Snopes, 9 Dec. 2024, Frequently Asked Questions| Jif®. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025. "Mandela Effect: 10 Examples of False Memories." Cleveland Clinic, Accessed 13 Apr. 2025. Mandela Effect Articles | Accessed 13 Apr. 2025. TikTok - Make Your Day. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025. Wazer, Caroline. "Mr. Monopoly Never Wore a Monocle?" Snopes, 2 Oct. 2024, Wrona, Aleksandra. "Wait, That Never Happened? 10 Examples of the Mandela Effect." Snopes, 12 Apr. 2025,
