A man who faced homophobic slurs at Electric Picnic has said bystanders 'shook their heads' but nobody spoke up.

Cian Griffin said he faced the harassment over an outfit he wore on one day of the festival.

He was wearing black cargo pants and a long sleeve top.

Cian told Lunchtime Live he faced homophobic comments "all day long" about his outfit.

"People were calling me slurs; people were pointing and laughing at me," he said.

"People were literally coming up and roaring in my face - [it was] crazy stuff.

"One of my friends had a drink thrown over them, someone tried to start a fight with me.

"In 2024 [it's] shocking that this is still happening".

 

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Cian said the age profile of those behind the homophobia at Electric Picnic surprised him.

"You'd expect it to be coming from younger, more immature people but I'm talking about adults," he said.

"People in their 50s and 60s - people as old as my parents - it's shocking that people of that generation are still so backwards and confident in being so outwardly hateful in public.

"In the moment, it was an eye roll for me - I'm 29 and I've heard a lot worse than fashion criticism over the years," he said.

"It takes a lot to affect me but when I posted about it and spoke to my friends about it so people messaged me being like, 'I experienced the same'".

Cian said he wanted to speak about his experience at Electric Picnic to "let people know this is still going on in 2024".

"There were bystanders that saw what happened - and some of them shook their head with disapproval - but no one really spoke up," he said.

"That would have been nice [to have] someone else fighting for me".

Cian said generally he feels society is regressing when it comes to equality.

"I think, overall, it seems we're going backwards," he said.

"I can count on more than two hands the friends and people that I've met that have been physically assaulted because they're gay.

"It's wild that we're going 10 years on from the marriage referendum - I just thought we'd be more progressive at this stage.

"I think people aren't aware of how this is still happening".

Cian said he did his best to ignore the comments when he was at Electric Picnic.

"A lot of the times it was myself and one or two friends which is obviously a bit more intimidating because I feared that I was going to be attacked," he said.

"I just kind of ignored it, took the slight, chin up and walked on.

"That's easy for me to do - I've heard a lot worse - but there was a lot of young people at that festival.

"I can't imagine me at 18 being able to just move on and not let it affect me".

Cian added that the weekend in general was "amazing and [the homophobia] was a tiny little stain on the enjoyment".

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Main image: Cian Griffin in his outfit at Electric Picnic. Image: Instagram/gaylgeoiri