Deafheaven guitarist Kerry McCoy has recently come under fire for his use of the word “faggot” as an insult on Twitter back in 2012. Since this revelation, there has been a petition created and “going around” to stop the band from playing any future Pitchfork Music Festivals. All 13 people who signed the petition are very passionate about this topic, saying things like “band is sh*t,” and “this band sucks.”
While yes, using homophobic slurs and other hate speech is pretty much universally regarded as “not a cool thing to do,” and “bad PR,” but are we really going to crucify people based on the stupid things they said on the internet, years ago? My opinion aside, you can read the petition description and some of McCoys tweets below (context free) and come to your own educated decision.
“Pitchfork.com , organizers of the annual Pitchfork Festival in Union Park, continue to lend financial and social support to the popular music ensemble Deafheaven. A founding and still-performing member of this group has a documented history of using violent, homophobic slurs since at least 2010. Festival-goers, and businesses who rely on the Pitchfork Festival as an annual revenue boost and marketing hub, demand that the site cease their continued support of this band, until such time as meaningful reparations are enforced, and a substantial effort to promote healing and tolerance in our communities is undertaken.”
(via)
