ORGANISERS of Scottish music festival TRNSMT appeared to have blamed Nicola Sturgeon, not coronavirus, for cancelling the annual event.

Bosses said in a statement that "due to the comments made by the First Minister of Scotland during the daily briefing on 23rd April, TRNSMT will be unable to go ahead as planned in July 2020".

UPDATE: TRNSMT issues clarification after blaming Nicola Sturgeon for cancellation

The festival takes place on Glasgow Green and was set to see Liam Gallagher and Lewis Capaldi as headliners.

While the festival has also confirmed its dates for 2021 and said tickets can be rolled over, it has not confirmed that the line-up will be the same, but have said they are working to get the line-up as close to 2020 as possible.

The statement, which did not mention coronavirus, said: "We are absolutely gutted to announce that due to the comments made by the First Minister of Scotland during the daily briefing on 23rd April, TRNSMT will be unable to go ahead as planned in July 2020.

"We did not want to take this step but it is unavoidable. The health and safety of our fans, artists, staff and community will always be our top priority."

"We are now working hard with all the artist teams to try to get the 2021 line-up as close to this year’s as we can and will be able to update on this fully over the next two weeks. We’d like to thank the artist teams for their hard work in helping us to try and achieve this.

"This 2021 line-up announcement will be made soon and you will be able to either hold on to your ticket and carry it over to next year's festival in order to secure your place well in advance or request a refund. Your ticket provider will be in touch so look out for an email coming from them soon. Please only get in touch with them if you haven’t been contacted after 14 days as they are very busy at this time.

"We can confirm that next year’s festival will take place on the weekend of 9-11th July 2021.

"Finally, TRNSMT would not be the amazing festival that it is, without YOU – our amazing audience so we thank you for your support.

"Stay at home, practice social distancing and stay safe.

"We will be back next year to celebrate like never before – see you all then!

"Love, TRNSMT x"

Kieran Andrews, the Scottish political editor of The Times, tweeted that it was bizarre that the update did not mention coronavirus. 

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