[Update 8/20/25]: The remaining 19 dates of Michael Franti & Spearhead‘s 2025 Welcome to the Family tour have been canceled as Franti faces the continued fallout of recent allegations that he engaged in grooming and misconduct toward a young artist on one of his prior tours.
As the “Say Hey (I Love You)” singer wrote in an Instagram story on Wednesday, August 20th, “This is one of the hardest messages I’ve ever had to write. Recent events online have left me disheartened and my spirit isn’t in the place it needs to be to get on stage and give you the joy and energy you deserve. The remaining dates on the Welcome to the Family Tour will be canceled. I’m devastated to disappoint you, but I hope you understand that I need this pause to be with my family. Thank you for your love and compassion in this difficult moment.”
The tour’s last completed show came on Saturday, August 16th in San Diego, CA. It was initially due to continue on Wednesday, August 20th in Albuquerque, NM, and throughout August and September.
Franti’s past actions came under scrutiny on August 11th when Victoria Canal, a young artist who toured with Franti in the late 2010s and collaborated with him on the 2019 track “The Flower”, shared the story of her experience being groomed and emotionally abused by an influential artist. Although she did not mention him by name, fans were quick to pinpoint Michael Franti as the subject of Canal’s account.
In the ensuing days, a number of artists dropped off of Franti’s Soulshine at Sea Cruise, initially slated to sail in November. The sold-out cruise was later canceled entirely. Several of the scheduled opening acts on Franti’s upcoming Welcome to the Family tour had also pulled out of the tour ahead of its outright cancellation. Billboard also reported that Franti has parted ways with his longtime management company, Activist Artist Management.
Scroll down to read Canal’s account, Franti’s response, and a timeline of other recent events pertaining to this story.
[Photo: Screengrab via Michael Franti Instagram story, 8/20/25]
This story is developing.
[Originally published 8/18/25]: The sold-out Soulshine at Sea Cruise originally due to sail on November 4th, 2025 with a number of notable artists on board has been canceled amid mounting controversy surrounding the event’s host and headliner, Michael Franti.
A note from event producer Sixthman on Sunday published an announcement to the Soulshine at Sea website reading, “In light of recent events, the Soulshine at Sea with Michael Franti event scheduled for November 4-8, 2025, is cancelled. We are actively working to announce a new event that will sail November 4-8, 2025. …. As we communicated on Friday to booked guests, all guests will be offered options regarding their reservations, which include a full refund or future Sixthman credit. We appreciate your patience as we work behind the scenes to provide swift and clear information to our guests.”
The past actions of Franti, the reggae-fusion artist and Spearhead bandleader best known for feel-good songs like 2008 hit single “Say Hey (I Love You)”, recently came under scrutiny after Victoria Canal, a young artist who toured with Franti in the late 2010s and collaborated with him on the 2019 track “The Flower”, shared the story of her experience being groomed and emotionally abused by an influential artist. Although she did not mention him by name, fans were quick to pinpoint Michael Franti as the subject of Canal’s account.
Michael Franti & Spearhead w/ Victoria Canal – “The Flower” (Official Video) – Released 1/16/19
In the days that followed, several artists booked to perform on Soulshine at Sea—including Dispatch, HIRIE, and Maggie Rose—announced in posts of their own that they were dropping off the lineup. On Sunday, around the time of the cruise’s cancellation announcement, Michael Franti made a post of his own on Instagram refuting the allegations indirectly levied against him.
While both the initial post from Canal and the ensuing responses from Michael Franti and other associated artists have been delivered via notes app screenshots notably devoid of specific names, the statements’ verifiable context and glaring subtext leave little doubt that Franti is the subject of Canal’s allegations.
In an Instagram post made on her 27th birthday with denoted trigger warnings for “sexual abuse” and “grooming,” Canal wrote, “I’ll only say this one. This is something I’ve never spoken about publicly, and have been holding for 8 years now—it has plagued my body, spirit, and mind, in subliminal and overt ways, for my entire 20’s. It was only earlier this year when I was assaulted by a stranger in a rehearsal space, that something in my subconscious awoke (including many buried memories) and helped me start to understand the effects of what happened to me. Today, on my 27th birthday, I am choosing my own freedom by sharing this with you all. I am letting it out, to be able to let it go. This decision feels so right in my body.
“When I was 19,” she continued in a second slide, “a very powerful, decades-older man plucked me out of the internet, and college, and invited me on my first professional opportunity. I won’t mention him by name or any specifics (as redemptive as that would feel) because I can’t risk the financial loss or emotional terror a lawsuit would bring.
“What’s important to say,” Canal went on, “is that I was made to feel safe by this person, at first. He appears to be loving, charismatic, and principled—to this day, he is beloved by his following, appears to be a family man, and has a very active career. However, behind closed doors, this person has a history of incredibly damaging behavior across the board, and has a team of enablers around him who have fiercely protected his image, perpetuating this behavior for decades.” Click below to read the rest of Canal’s account of her experience.
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On Saturday, as Canal’s story continued to spread via social media and various associated acts began pulling out of Michael Franti & Spearhead events, she took to Instagram once again to post screenshots of various messages she had received from others who had experienced grooming and abusive behavior by the aforementioned “powerful artist.”
Although some of the screenshots she shared appear to have featured the accused artist’s name, Canal obscured specific mentions of it in her post. The names of the people who sent the messages were also predominantly withheld in the post, with the sole exception being a message from Carla Swanson, the documentarian with whom Franti co-founded Stay Human Films, who wrote, “I read your post and I’m so sorry this happened to you. I wish I could share my full story too — but this same person forced me to sign an NDA. Twice. This is how abusers protect themselves: silencing survivors while keeping their image polished. But truth always has a way of surfacing.”
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Once again noting trigger warnings for “sexual misconduct” and “grooming,” Canal wrote in the post’s caption, “I was not planning on following up on my statement up [sic] with any other statements of my own, because I am so happy to feel free of this and move on with my life. I also feel like the person who groomed me doesn’t deserve so much real estate on my page.”
“However,” she continued, “after hearing many stories about the same person, I feel a responsibility (and have been asked by some who approached me) to share on these victims’ behalf. I have permission from everyone here to share these screenshots with you, including the name mentioned. There were more to share but as is totally understandable, not everyone feels comfortable speaking out on their experience regardless of anonymity. It’s a scary thing. Let this be a shedding of light on my own discovery – that I am not the only victim of this person.”
She added, “I am so grateful for the solidarity I have felt this week. You have no idea what it means to me for people to see the truth and to support me in my own letting go and healing. Thank you so, so much.”
The comments sections on both of Canal’s posts have also remained active, with thousands of fans and fellow artists offering support and encouragement.
On Sunday, Michael Franti made an Instagram post of his own in which he refutes Canal’s implicit account of their relationship. While he similarly does not mention Victoria Canal by name, his account appears to be an alternate telling of the same relationship described by Canal in her original post. Unlike Canal’s post, comments are disabled on Franti’s statement, which has generated more than 11,000 likes as of publication time.
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“I come here most humbly to share my story with you,” Franti wrote. “7 years ago I had a romantic relationship outside my marriage. It was with an artist who was touring with me. I broke my wedding vows, I broke my wife’s trust, I broke her heart, and for that I am deeply sorry for the pain my actions have caused her. The artist and I had written a song together and later my team offered her a spot on tour as the support act. Over the course of the tour, we spent a lot of time together and soon began to feel strong emotions for one another.
“Eventually,” he continued, “I made the most regrettable mistake of allowing the relationship to become romantic. My wife found out about it and to save my marriage, we ended the relationship. The artist stayed on tour with us and we maintained a professional relationship. After the tour ended, she continued to perform at several shows.”
“During the last 7 years,” Franti went on, “My wife and I have done an incredible amount of work for me to repair the damage that I did. I’m aware of the recent posts this artist made about our relationship, and while I support her need to express herself publicly, the relationship was completely consensual, based on mutual feelings and attraction. I vehemently dispute any version of the story that says otherwise.”
He added, “I will however, take full accountability for not better recognizing the power imbalance as she was younger than me, and I was the headliner on tour. For those reasons alone, I never should have allowed the relationship to become romantic.
“I have and continue to apologize to my wife Sara and my family for the pain that I have caused you. I am also apologizing to the artist for the pain that you are going through. My mistake was breaking the vows of our marriage, and involving someone else in the breaking of those vows. For that I will have to atone for the rest of my life. A public conversation about a private issue is never easy for anyone involved and I am sorry you are hurting. If you’re somebody who’s known me directly or somebody who’s known me through my music, you will know that I have my good qualities, as well as a lot of flaws. I wake up every day trying to work on them. Perhaps all the things I’ve been reading about me online are just God’s way of saying ‘do the work to become the person that you really want to be’ and I promise I will continue to do just that.
“I want to thank everyone in our community who reached out to me with such kindness and care,” he concluded, “and to those who were hurting in the unknown, I see you. Thank you to those who are holding us in your heart as my family and I navigate something like this for the first time.”
Soulshine at Sea 3 is not the only upcoming engagement that has been affected by the mounting controversy surrounding Michael Franti.
Spearhead’s ongoing Welcome to the Family tour, which has already been running for more than a month with rotating opening acts, was due to feature Tank and the Bangas and ALO on various upcoming dates. On Thursday, Tank and the Bangas pulled out of their Welcome to the Family run, noting, “While we are not aware of any specific details related to the matter, in light of the recent post made about the artist, we have made the difficult decision to not participate, until we have a better understanding of the facts.” On Sunday ALO dropped off a stretch of upcoming Michael Franti tour dates in Texas, citing “allegations against the headliner.”
The Welcome to the Family tour is due to continue on Wednesday, August 20th in Albuquerque, NM.
This story is developing.