NOFX Say They’re “Banned In Our Own Country” Over Vegas Shooting Joke
While performing at the Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival in Las Vegas late last month, NOFX made a really tasteless joke about the shooting at a Las Vegas country music festival that left 58 people dead last year. “We played a song about Muslims and we didn’t get shot. Hooray,” frontman Fat Mike said onstage during their set. “I guess you only get shot in Vegas if you are in a country band,” guitarist Eric Melvin responded. “At least they were country fans and not punk rock fans,” Mike concluded. “You were all thinking it!”
Understandably, this didn’t go over too well with the crowd — or everyone who watched the footage of the ill-advised exchange after the fact. A few days later, the band issued an apology via their official Facebook page. “I can’t sleep, no one in my band can,” their statement read. “What we said in Vegas was shitty and insensitive and we are all embarrassed by our remarks. So we decided we will all get together to discuss and write an in depth, sincere, and honest apology because that’s what the people we offended and hurt deserve.”
In the wake of the incident, NOFX were dropped from the lineup of their own festival, Camp Punk in Drublic, the day before it was scheduled to start. And now, according to an Instagram post by Fat Mike, every US show has been cancelled. “Fuck it! I’m not supposed to talk about it, but because of the comments we made in Las Vegas… every NOFX show has been cancelled in the US,” he wrote. “We did not drop off the shows…. we were told that NOFX is not welcome to play ANY big venue in the United States. No joke! NOFX has effectively been banned in our own country. This is not our choice, but it is our reality. We are very sorry to our fans, especially the ones in Austin. For now, we are playing in Europe, Mexico, and Canada.”
Find his full post below.
On the upside, this is the most press NOFX have gotten in years.
