NEED TO KNOW
An influencer family is speaking out after a frightening experience at a music festival.
On Aug. 12, dad Roly May posted a screenshot of his 17-year-old son Cooper’s Instagram Stories, where his son alleges that he was “spiked” with a needle, “touched weirdly multiple times” and “threatened” while attending Boardmasters, a U.K. music festival, over the past weekend.
“posting this so u lot can remember im 17 and wanna enjoy my time aswell. hopefully u guys can sort urself out,” wrote Cooper. “majority of ppl i met were real nice so thanks for you guys.”
In a follow-up video, Roly told his 1.9 million followers on TikTok that his son had been in the hospital for five hours after the alleged incident, where he received several blood tests, all of which came back without any concerning results.
Roly May/Instagram
“Everything that’s been advised to be done, we’ve done,” he said, adding that he and his son were heading home to have a relaxed night and eat a takeout dinner.
In the wake of their son’s experience at Boardmasters, Roly and his wife Katy — who regularly share content on social media about their lives as parents — have been critical of the festival’s handling of security.
Katy May/Instagram
“Boardmasters have kind of let us down as parents with their duty of care,” Roly said in the video.
“Cooper was harassed, searched for, man handled, belittled and spiked,” claimed Katy in a post to her Instagram Stories. “This music event is supposed to be aimed at our young people!! Where was the security? The safeguarding? This is an absolute disgrace.”
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Responding to allegations of “spiking” by several users on social media at the festival, Boardmasters told Metro UK that there had been “no confirmed cases of spiking” over the past two years, though a “small number of people” went to the festival’s medical center.
The festival did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The May family regularly shares content from their lives in the U.K. and their travels abroad to their millions of followers across Instagram and TikTok. Roly, who boasts nearly 2 million followers on TikTok, is particularly known on the platform for his cooking videos. His wife of 12 years, Katy, regularly shares fitness content, filming her workouts at the gym.
