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Lily Allen defended in Twitter row

Festival organisers have defended their decision to book Lily Allen after the singer received Twitter abuse for stepping in to headline Latitude.

Lily took the place of Two Door Cinema Club as they pulled out at the last minute due to illness and is due to play the main arena at Henham Park in Suffolk.

Earlier in the day she said she was "exhausted by nastiness" on the social networking site after agreeing to take the Irish indie band's place.

She wrote: "I understand that you're disappointed but I don't think that warrants abuse."

Two Door Cinema Club offered their support, sending her a message saying: "You have our unequivocal support. You're a greatly talented artist!"

Festival organiser Melvin Benn said he was delighted the Sheezus singer had agreed to join the line-up alongside fellow headliners Damon Albarn and The Black Keys.

He put the abuse down to "a number of idiots" saying many of them may not even be Latitude festival goers.

Mr Benn added: "She's done a fantastic thing in offering to come and play.

"It's a tough thing to find a headline act at the last minute.

"She's not been to Latitude before. I've spoken to her, she's very happy, she's pissed off about the abuse from the Twitter cranks but I think she's going to put on a great show.

"There's certainly a section of the audience she very much appeals to - she's worthy of any stage."

Damon has been granted an extra 15 minutes for his headline set on Saturday night so a "well-known friend" can join him on stage.

Mr Benn refused to comment on who this mystery guest may be.

About 35,000 people are expected to arrive at the arts and music event this weekend as temperatures approach 28C.

Latitude is renowned as the most middle-class event on the UK festival circuit and there has been no attempt to play down that reputation.

The event reinforced those credentials by adding morning yoga classes, a knitting circle and an olive bar to the usual eclectic line-up of ballet, literature discussions and performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Other highlights of the day's line-up include Editors, Billy Bragg and Crystal Fighters.

Source: music.uk.msn.com
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