NOFX Say They’ve Been “Effectively Banned” From Playing in the U.S.
NOFX recently made jokes about the October 2017 Las Vegas shooting during a set at the Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival in Las Vegas. As a result, Stone Brewing Co.—the company behind NOFX’s beer Punk in Drublic, and its corresponding music festival—denounced the band and pulled them from their own lineup. Days following their initial on-stage comments, NOFX issued an apology, writing, “There’s no place here to backpedal. What NOFX said in Vegas was shameful. We crossed the line of civility.”
Now, frontman Michael “Fat Mike” Burkett has issued a new statement on Instagram, claiming that all upcoming NOFX shows in the U.S. have been canceled, with the band being barred from playing “ANY big venue in the United States.” “NOFX has effectively been banned in our own country,” he wrote. “This is not our choice, but it is our reality. We are very sorry to our fans, especially the ones in Austin... It fuckin sucks! We made a mistake, we apologized, and we gotta suffer the consequences. Maybe it ain’t fair, but whoever said life was.” The statement closes with several hashtags, one of which reads, “#whendidpunkrockbecomesosafe.”
During the Las Vegas performance where they made the offensive comments, guitarist Eric Melvin said on-stage, “I guess you only get shot in Vegas if you’re in a country band.” To that, Fat Mike replied, “At least they were country fans and not punk rock fans.” 58 people died in the October 2017 shooting, with 851 people wounded.
Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for NOFX for comment and clarification.
