Stormzy has pulled out of Snowbombing festival, which was due to take place at Mayrhofen, Austria, this weekend, claiming that security “racially targeted” his team.

Writing on Instagram Stories yesterday, Stormzy said: “My manager and all my friends who were at the festival were racially profiled, targeted and aggressively handled because they had ‘reason to believe someone was carrying a weapon’. The security targeted them (despite no one fitting the description), were physically aggressive when handling them.”

He also issued an apology to fans the festival. “My sincerest apologies to anyone who travelled all that way to watch me perform,” he wrote. “I’m genuinely upset that you’ve wasted your time and money and that burns me more than you’d know. The last ever thing I wanna do is let down anyone who’s taken time out to support me.”

He continued: “So please hear me out, I too would be fuming if I travelled and spent money to go and watch an artist and they pull out last minute. However, if these are the drastic steps that I need to take to make a point against racism and racial profiling, then trust me I’m taking it.”

Snowbombing confirmed the cancellation in a statement. “Snowbombing's security were alerted to the possibility that an individual at the festival was allegedly carrying a weapon,” the festival said. “In accordance with protocol, a small number of attendees, including Stormzy’s manager were escorted to the nearest exit, searched and no weapon was found. Stormzy’s management were unhappy with the manner by which this took place and as a result Stormzy will no longer be performing... We are deeply saddened that any individual would feel uncomfortable at Snowbombing.”

They also apologised to Stormzy and his team. “We are doing everything we can to understand the full situation and are treating this with the utmost seriousness to ensure this does not happen again.”

Stormzy is set to headline this year’s Glastonbury Festival, which takes place from June 26 to 30.