ARE they speaking with forked tongues, though?

What they also said was: We recently ran a process to audition new members for the busking scheme. Musicians were shortlisted on diversity, presentation, musical ability, range of songs and originality. Not passing the selection process was not a reflection on any particular instrument or music genre - we realise that some entrants will be disappointed.

It's feasible that they felt that Mr Burch' playing/ singing fell short in one or more of the above categories, and that the quote (it WAS the Daily Mail) was selective or taken out of context. ie, that there was a preceding sentence explaining where the shortcomings were felt to be that the Daily Mail in its wisdom chose not to quote.