The topless protester that stormed the stage while Avril Lavigne presented an award at the 2023 Junos on Monday is speaking out.
Vancouver resident Casey Hatherly, 37, insisted she crashed Lavigne’s appearance during the ceremony, that was held at Edmonton’s Rogers Place, to raise awareness of environmental issues.
The activist, who goes by the first name Ever, spoke to reporters outside an Edmonton courtroom on Wednesday after a brief stint in jail at the Edmonton Remand Centre.
News: climate protester Casey Hatherly (who goes by the first name Ever) was briefly in Edmonton court today after being arrested for crashing the Junos stage topless. Here she is talking about why she did what she did (some brief language in here) pic.twitter.com/2Rvkhmxz34
— Jonny Wakefield (@jonnywakefield) March 15, 2023
READ MORE: 2023 Juno Awards: Avril Lavigne Tells Topless Protester To ‘Get The F**k Off’ Stage
“I low-key, in my heart of hearts, hoped that she would be like ‘punk rock, girl power,’ give me the mic or something. But I don’t think it could have gone any better,” Hatherly said, according to the Edmonton Journal.
“(It was) like, ‘Oh my God, is she actually going to give me the mic? Oh no, no, she just wants to call me a b***h,’” she added of Lavigne’s reaction.
The Canadian hitmaker told the protester, who is part of a group called On To Ottawa, at the time, “Get the f**k off, get the f**k off, b***ch.”
@iheartradioca A streaker just jumped on stage while @Avril Lavigne was introducing @AP Dhillon at the #junos 😱😳 Can’t say I expected that, but Avril handled that like a BOSS! #avrillavigne #avril #apdhillon #junoawards ♬ original sound – iHeartRadio Canada
Hatherly had the phrases “Save the Greenbelt” and “Land Back” written on her body, with her wanting to draw attention to issues including oil pipelines, the logging of old growth forests, and development in the Ontario greenbelt.
“More people are going to click on ‘topless protester’ than they will environmental activist,” Hatherly insisted of her efforts to raise awareness.
Hatherly has been charged with obstruction, which is a type of mischief charge. She’s set to head back to court April 5.
