Kirin J Callinan to face charges over alleged ARIA incident

Singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kirin J Callinan has seen his well known sense of theatre to “excite and confuse” land him in court on February 21.

NSW Police have charged him with “wilful and obscene exposure near a public place” after an alleged incident at the ARIA red carpet at the Sydney Star last November.

In NSW, the charge can attract a fine of $1,100 or a six-month prison sentence.

The incident saw him been dropped from the Laneway shows after a complaint by Brisbane rapper Miss Blanks (aka Sian Vandermuelen) that his action should “not be tolerated”.

The dumping led to a number of sympathetic tweets from Neil Finn, while Party In The Paddock in Tasmania added him onto its bill this Saturday night and co-share MC duties.

The festival said, “PITP believes that a progressive society of equality and tolerance is in part shaped by the provocative artists who dance on its fringes.

“We afford artists a license to challenge norms, express themselves freely and be agents of change.

“We judge Kirin not by a single, spontaneous moment of profanity but rather by a decade of provocative and brilliant work.”

Callinan is not expected to make any immediate comment about the charges.

But after the Laneway decision, in an Instagram post, he signalled he held no grudges against Miss Blanks.

“To say I’m a wee bit disappointed that I will not also be performing for every dusty, sexy, sunburnt woman & man & non-binary human ‘round this beaut n dusty sunburnt land is the understatement o the new year,” he wrote.

“But more important than some rocking concert, more relevant than resentment or regrets, is respect – for each & every one o us.

“So, be kinder to each other in 2018, be kinder to yourselves and perhaps, one day not too far from now, the world will be big enough, for all of us.”

Callinan did end up appearing at Laneway after all, making a guest appearance during Mac DeMarco’s set.