Yungblud has cancelled his scheduled Cowboys Music Festival appearance in Calgary.
Yungblud has been pulled from his scheduled Cowboys Music Festival appearance in Calgary this Sunday, July 12, as he takes time at home in the UK to focus on himself.
In a statement, his management said the decision had been made “reluctantly” as a team, while confirming that his other scheduled shows remain set to go ahead as planned.
Dom shared his own message to fans, writing:
“To all my family in Canada I apologise for not being there with you all this weekend. I’m currently in a place where I’m working on myself and taking time off at home in the UK. I’m taking this extremely seriously and facing head on what’s going on for the good of the long term. I will never take any of this for granted and I will see you all soon. I love you all.”
Cowboys Music Festival said its thoughts are with Dom and confirmed that impacted ticket holders will be contacted with options, including full refunds. New headliners for July 12 are set to be announced.
The update comes days after Yungblud shared footage from a visibly emotional BLUDFEST moment in Czechia, where he told the crowd he had been feeling disconnected and thanked fans for making him feel safe.
“Every time I find your faces, every time I find your eyes, every time I look at you, I know that I belong somewhere,” he told the crowd during the speech.
Yungblud later posted the clip himself, writing that he had debated whether to share it because he did not want it to feel disingenuous or like it was being used for attention. He said the moment was “a byproduct of my body releasing the wave of emotion that has hit me in the past year that I’ve been unable to process.”
He also addressed the wider online discourse around him, saying that “the amount of hate and disbelief” from strangers online and “bitter musicians” had weighed on his heart.
“I should really say nothing about this because it would make me seem cooler and like it isn’t affecting me,” he wrote, “but deep down I don’t think that’s who I am or why we all connect to each other.”
In the same post, Yungblud referenced an article he said had felt validating, quoting the line: “Yungblud isn’t an industry plant. The Internet just missed the grind.”
That was the headline of Blunt’s recent Blunt Truth review of the “industry plant” claim. The piece found that the public record supports a different conclusion: industry-backed, yes. Industry plant, no.
The point was not that Yungblud has had no support. He has had label backing, management, infrastructure and major opportunities. The distinction is that industry support is not the same thing as hidden manufacture.
Since Yungblud posted the BLUDFEST clip, a number of artists have offered public support.
SZA commented, “Rooting for you.” Scissor Sisters singer Bridget Barkan wrote, “Hard relate. I feel this so hard. So beautiful to be this vulnerable.” Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White-Gluz added, “I feel this with all my soul.”
Several rock and metal figures also weighed in directly on the authenticity debate.
Gary Holt of Exodus and Slayer wrote: “An industry plant cannot do what you did at Back to the Beginning. Genuine and real and convinced a horde of headbangers of this. Not easy to do.”
Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian added: “I stood side stage at BTTB and watched you breathe rarified air the way you elevated ‘Changes.’ You’ve earned it all Dom. Cheers brother.”
Those comments show how quickly the conversation has moved beyond a lazy internet insult. In the days since Yungblud’s BLUDFEST post, the “industry plant” discourse has become a wider conversation about artist labour, public disbelief, emotional exhaustion and what gets erased when people mistake visibility for manufacture.
Yungblud has always been a polarising figure. His aesthetic, ambition, theatricality and scale invite strong reactions. But the current moment has made something else clear: the words people throw around online do not stay abstract. They land on real people, real bodies and real communities.
Blunt’s original assessment remains the same.
Yungblud is industry-backed. He is not an industry plant.
And as this latest festival update shows, the emotional cost of constantly having the grind questioned is no longer just background noise. It is now part of the story.

