I Killed The Prom Queen Dropped From Festival Due To Frontman’s Offensive Past Remarks

I don’t know much about metalcore band I Killed The Prom Queen. A quick listen to their music tells me that I don’t love them, but don’t really hate them, either. So I’d like to think that in this situation, I can be at least somewhat impartial.

Apparently, the band’s classic lineup was all set to reunite for this year’s UNIFY Gathering festival–but that’s not happening now, due to an insensitive comment made on Facebook a few years ago by former frontman Michael Crafter.

Here’s what Crafter posted:

Oof. Welp, that’s pretty terrible, yeah.

The festival released the following statement:

“Today UNIFY Gathering has made the decision, with the backing of band members, to remove I Killed The Prom Queen from the lineup for Unify Gathering 2019.

We made this decision because historical comments made on social media by former member Michael Crafter, who was to re-appear as guest singer of I Killed the Prom Queen for their one- off 2004 nostalgia set. These comments fall well short of today’s community standards and were considered deeply offensive to many people within our music community.

These comments are completely unacceptable and contrary to our deeply held values and beliefs that music is for everyone and to be enjoyed by all.

We want to create a culture of positive change within the music industry and it’s our responsibility to call out unacceptable behaviour wherever we see it.

UNIFY is committed to ensuring a safe place for anyone and everyone who wants to enjoy music. This is why we jointly launched the ‘Your Choice’ initiative, aimed at addressing cultural issues and harmful behaviour within the music festival landscape.

On reflection, we acknowledge that Michael Crafter shouldn’t have been chosen to appear at Unify Gathering 2019. We’d like to acknowledge that the members of the band have been really open and helpful in this conversation, and we wish them the best moving forward.”

Meanwhile, Crafter himself posted the following to his Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmPetIhlQ3Z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

So there you have it. The festival organizers seem pretty firm in their principles, and Crafter seems somewhat penitent about his comments. Fans, meanwhile, have started a petition to keep the band on the line-up, which you can sign here if you feel like it.

What do you guys think? Personally, I’m inclined to side with the fest on this one (of course I am, I’m a MetalSucks writer), as their whole theme appears to be unification, and Crafter’s comments were in unarguably poor taste. But Crafter basically expressed the same kind of insensitive bullshit a million dumb hardcore dudes do. Is it UNIFY’s fault for not having done more research into who they were adding to the bill?

Let us know in the comments. Meanwhile, always remember that if you feel like posting something edgy and offensive on social media, there is a 1000% chance it will come back to bite you in the ass.

[via The PRP]