"F**k Chega": British band shows controversial message at CA Vilar de Mouros festival

Culture • Aug 20, 2026, 3:14 PM

11 min de lecture

The English punk rock band, formed in Brighton, England, performed on the first day of the Minho festival CA Vilar de Mouros and has become embroiled in controversy.

During their set, the British duo, made up of Phoebe Lunny and Selin Macieira-Boşgelmez, displayed on the screen a message addressed to the Chega party that read "F**k Chega" (in Portuguese: 'Que se f**a o Chega'). Besides the written message, the vocalist urged the audience to shout the same phrase along with her.

At the festival to present their debut album, "Who Let the Dogs Out", the duo also left other politically charged messages, such as "To hell with the far right" and "Free Palestine, free Congo, free Sudan**"**, and they also displayed the Palestinian flag.

André Ventura, leader of Chega, has already reacted to the performance via his account on the social network X, questioning the use of "taxpayers' money" to fund what he described as "nonsense".

"'F**k Chega' was heard on the stage of the Vilar de Mouros Festival, where thousands of euros of taxpayers' money are being spent (so Chega members and supporters also paid for this nonsense). Is anything allowed when it comes to insulting us? Can drugs and a 'burnt-out' head be a justification for offending millions of Portuguese people, on top of that using public funds?" he wrote.

The mayor of Caminha, the municipality that hosts the festival, has also condemned the duo's behaviour. Liliana Silva, elected by the PSD, described the situation as "regrettable" in a post on her Facebook page.

"I condemn this artist's behaviour in the same way that I reject political opportunism around it. The Vilar de Mouros Festival has no party and no colours. It belongs to the municipality of Caminha," the mayor wrote.

Liliana Silva also expressed her anger at the fact that artists use the festival "to insult whatever it may be", arguing that such an attitude "is an affront to the freedom, respect and healthy coexistence that we want to prevail at this festival".

The CA Vilar de Mouros Festival is regarded as the oldest music festival in the Iberian Peninsula and has been held in the town from which it takes its name, Vilar de Mouros, in the municipality of Caminha, for more than six decades.

In an interview with Jornal de Notícias, one of the festival's media partners, the vocalist, Phoebe Lunny, argued that artists do not need to have political parties, but, given "the general rise of fascism at a global level, I think all artists have a responsibility at least to reflect the opinions of the people around them and the situations and environment in which they find themselves".

The bassist, Selin Macieira-Boşgelmez, who has Portuguese roots, added that the band wants to get back to the roots of the genre they represent. "I think political climates are becoming far more extreme, and I think that is also being reflected in music. I think that we in particular, as a band and as an identity, are, in a way, very much built around that," she said in the same interview with JN.