PNE accuses Vancouver Park Board chair of insisting on back-stage access to Stars of Drag performance
CTV
Vancouver's PNE is accusing the chair of the city's park board of using his status as an elected official to insist on back-stage access to a performance last year.
Vancouver's PNE is accusing the chair of the city's park board of using his status as an elected official to insist on back-stage access to a performance last year.
In a statement sent to CTV News Vancouver, PNE spokesperson Laura Ballance outlined an incident that unfolded at the fair's amphitheatre on Sept. 2. Ballance said that immediately after a Stars of Drag show, Brennan Bastyovanszky "approached security staff at the stage access gate identifying himself as an elected park board commissioner."
"He requested access backstage to meet the artists from the show in his role as commissioner," Ballance said, explaining it's against PNE protocol to let anyone backstage without accreditation from the artist's management.
But Bastyovanszky insisted, Ballance claimed, so the matter was escalated to a PNE manager, then to a PNE director.
"Upon arrival it was clear to the director that the commissioner was adamant about going backstage, and so the director, who had accreditation authority, reluctantly allowed the commissioner backstage to avoid further incident," Ballance said. "Once he was provided escorted access, the commissioner then waved in a number of his friends."
Ballance explained there were no issues with Bastyovanszky or his friends while they were backstage and they left the PNE grounds after meeting the performers.
