HARD Summer came under fire last week after the release of an off-the-mark video teaser.

The video depicted popular dance music figures dressed in drag in attempt to show progression(?) with the lack of females on festival line-ups. Naturally, this caused resulted in an understandable lash-out on social media, and now a week on, festival founder Gary Richards (aka Destructo) has issued an apology.

The 47-year-old businessman/producer released the following statement, clarifying his intentions behind the campaign, and that they did not intend to offend anyone.

Read the full statement and see what you make of it.

“Here at HARD Events we are here for everyone. The HARD Summer trailer was created as a satirical piece to raise consciousness at a time when equality issues are of utmost importance. Our goal is to promote good music and we are trying to give women more of a platform at our festival.

“My intentions here were only to help, not offend anyone, in supporting Agata’s vision and message. I understand that she does not speak for all women and how people could be upset by the trailer. There is always a risk of misinterpretation when satire is used, but we felt it was right to let her express herself and have creative control over the piece. We want to extend a sincere apology to those who were offended.

“We hope the conversations started by this piece bring the change we intended and we will continue to be a champion for Women’s rights within our community and world at large.”