Journeyman Productions, a Vancouver-based promotions company, has announced a zero tolerance policy towards racism and antisemitism at its shows, after one fan from ejected from the band Death Preacher’s show for performing a Nazi salute.
Nikki Gould, the company’s social media manager, was alerted by a friend that someone had performed the gesture at the show on December 8th and promptly had the man in question ejected from the venue.
Gould commented “I think I kind of let him off easy by kicking him out of the show and telling him to go. Had he stayed longer and got in a fight, that could have been really bad. Nazis and things like that don’t represent the metal scene. We want everyone to feel safe and included, and have fun. Nazis aren’t fun”.
The singer of Death Preacher reportedly said “no Nazis at my show” when he discovered what was happening.
Commenting on the incident, the legendary frontman of Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, commented:
“Nazi salutes have no place whatsoever in any kind of music community I want to belong to”
“I think people need a little bit more of a lesson in history, rather than a lesson in ignorance, which seems to be dished out far too often”
“People in this country — across the USA, Canada, the U.K.— fathers and grandfathers, fought and died to build a world in which this kind of thing doesn’t go on”
Two years ago when Phil Anselmo, the former singer of Pantera performed a Nazi salute on stage, he faced derision from across the heavy metal community. Rob Flynn of the band Machine Head denounced him in an eleven minute video as a “big bully” and a racist, whereas Anthrax’s Scott Ian, who is Jewish, invited Anselmo to make a donation to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, calling his actions “vile”. Anselmo’s band Down were forced to cancel a tour as a result of the backlash from fans.
Last year we reported that an antisemitic band were forced to cancel a show after staff at the venue refused to provide a platform to racists, in another display of solidarity against racism and antisemitism from the heavy metal community.
We commend Journeyman Productions, Death Preacher and Bruce Dickinson for taking a stand against antisemitism in heavy metal.