Yesterday, the initial lineup for Asbury Park’s Skate and Surf Festival was revealed, and there were a few metal and hardcore acts mixed in alongside the emo and hardcore, Attila among them. It hasn’t taken long for there to be backlash about their addition to the lineup. In fact, there’s already a petition to remove them from the Fest. A Change.org petition titled “Remove Homophobic Band Attila From Performing at Local ‘Skate and Surf’ Festival” has been started, and considering they got DMX thrown off last year’s Skate and Surf for the same reason, it might actually work. Here’s what the petition says:
Last year, the legendary Skate and Surf Festival returned to Asbury Park after ten years away. While the man behind the scenes, John D, has the city’s best interest at heart, he has made careless mistakes when booking certain performers. Last year, upon moving the festival to Asbury, the city required he remove the hip hop artist DMX from the bill, citing homophobia in his music. This year, a band called Attila is on his festival’s lineup. This band makes frequent use of the word f****t as a slur and acts as this is not harmful. I fear that, while the punk community is generally very accepting, this band will bring a crowd of people that will overall intimidate people and make the large LGBT+ community that may be at these shows feel threatened and unsafe. I urge the city of Asbury Park to consider asking John D and Skate and Surf to remove the band from the bill. Thank you.
The petition is only seeking 100 signatures and already has 85 as of this writing. Asbury Park has gained a sizable LGBT population as it’s gentrified, and while there’s no reason to think that Attila or their fans actually cause a threat to any of them, it’ll be interesting to see if the Fest pulls the Atlanta band for the same reason they did DMX last year. Tickets went on sale for the festival last night. We reached out to Attila’s publicist for comment, but haven’t heard back as of the time of publishing this.
