Grumpy bishop in dressing gown demands choir get out of his church: 'You are in my house and this is a terrible racket... Leave now!'
A barefooted Jonathan Baker, the Bishop of Fulham, took to the stage and grabbed a microphone to tell bemused performers and a 300-strong audience to leave.
The City Academy Voices choir was coming to the end of their performance at St Andrew's church in Holborn, central London, on Friday night when all of the lights were suddenly turned on.
Social media footage of the altercation, which has been viewed almost 400,000 times, shows Bishop Jonathan telling the crowd: 'You are in my house. It's gone past 10pm and this is a terrible racket.'
There are murmurs of disbelief from the crowd before the Bishop, 58, repeats: 'Goodnight. You are in my house – can you leave it now please. Thank you, it's over.'
A church employee then asked the crowd to leave quietly and the musicians to depart the stage because 'this is a residential home', attracting boos and jeers from the audience.
Before leaving, the choir performed one final song – an a cappella version of Abba's Dancing Queen – to cheers and applause from the crowd.
The choir was performing a special summer concert last Friday and had booked the venue, which is available to hire, having used it previously with no issue.
Benedict Collins, who was attending the concert with his ten-year-old daughter, said he initially thought the interruption was a staged joke.
He told Sky News: 'The church willingly rents out the premises for performances, for money. They can hardly be surprised if they take bookings for concerts and there is music in the hall.'
Leigh Stanford Thompson, the choir's director, described the incident as 'bizarre'.
He said that members of the choir thought at first that it was a 'comedy act'.
One choir member said: 'At first, I thought it was a comedy act or some actor doing a scene. But when we realised, oh no, this isn't an act, this is real, it was just a bit surreal.'
'We all went out to the pub afterwards and took it all in. Everyone was in astonishment really,' Mr Stanford Thompson told the Guardian.
'I do find it funny. I'm not particularly upset. We had a really good concert but I think it's a real shame that we didn't get a chance to finish. But now looking back, what a way to go out.'
A diocese of London spokesman said: 'Bishop Jonathan reached out to the organisers on Saturday to apologise for his late-night appearance at the concert, which he now understands had overrun due to earlier technical difficulties.'
One member of the choir told the Guardian: 'There were boos and everything, it's just really disappointing. At the end of these concerts, we always end on a real high and everyone goes home full of joy, but this dampened things.'
They added that Bishop Jonathan's comments about the 'racket' did not sit well because 'I think we produce a beautiful sound'.
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Sky News
26 minutes ago
- Sky News
Bishop in dressing gown interrupts church concert - and asks crowd to 'leave my house'
A disgruntled bishop in a dressing gown has interrupted a church concert in London - telling singers to stop their "terrible racket" and "leave his house". The City Academy Voices choir was coming to the end of their performance at St Andrew's in Holborn on Friday night when the lights were suddenly turned off. Footage on TikTok shows Jonathan Baker, the bishop of Fulham, standing barefoot at a microphone - as bemused performers and a 300-strong audience look on. "You are in my house. It's gone past 10pm and this is a terrible racket," he said. "Goodnight. You are in my house - can you leave it now please. Thank you, it's over." A church employee then asked the crowd to leave quietly and for the musicians to step down from the stage, attracting boos from the audience. The choir went on to perform one last song, an A cappella version of ABBA's Dancing Queen, before bringing their show to a close. Benedict Collins, who was attending the concert with his 10-year-old daughter, told Sky News he initially thought the interruption was a staged joke. "The church willingly rents out the premises for performances, for money," he said. "They can hardly be surprised if they take bookings for concerts and there is music in the hall." Mr Collins said the talented choir had "worked like mad" on the performance - and criticised the bishop's remarks. "This work deserves respect, not to be disparaged as a 'terrible racket'," he added. "The people here had put their heart and soul into it. The bishop cut them off in midstream, preventing soloists who had worked their hardest from singing - and preventing the audience, which included people of all ages, from enjoying it to the end." A spokesperson for the Diocese of London had told The Guardian: "Bishop Jonathan reached out to the organisers on Saturday to apologise for his late-night appearance at the concert, which he now understands had overrun due to technical difficulties." But Mr Collins told Sky News that he felt this statement was "mealy mouthed". He added: "I hope the bishop is well and okay. It's possible he just had a bad day. An unambiguous apology would help, one that recognises why his behaviour wasn't acceptable."
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