NOFX issued an apology Thursday night for remarks frontman Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin made about the Las Vegas shooting during their Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival set on Sunday.
“I can’t sleep, no one in my band can,” read a statement posted on the NOFX Facebook page. “What we said in Vegas was shitty and insensitive and we are all embarrassed by our remarks. So we decided we will all get together to discuss and write an in depth, sincere, and honest apology because that’s what the people we offended and hurt deserve.”
Since video of the band making jokes about the victims of the October, 2017 mass shooting surfaced on Twitter, the organizers of Punk Rock Bowling and Music issued a statement condemning the remarks and Stone Brewing, the company that sponsors NOFX’s craft beer and music festival and manufactures its Punk in Drublic brand beer, severed its business relationship with the punk band. Also, the Camp Punk In Drublic Festival, scheduled to take place this weekend in Ohio, announced that NOFX and Fat Mike’s other band, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes were removed from the lineup and replaced with The Descendents and The Vandals.
“While NOFX is known for their dark, uncomfortable humor, the festival producers of Camp Punk In Drublic are shocked and disappointed by the band’s recent statements about the Route 91 Harvest Festival victims and country music fans. These statements do not reflect the feelings or views of the Camp Punk In Drublic festival, its staff, and its sponsors,” a rep for the fest said in a statement. “The festival producers support fans of all music genres and take safety very seriously at all of their events. Out of respect for Route 91 Harvest Festival victims and their families, Camp Punk In Drublic will make a donation to a fund benefitting those affected by the 2017 tragedy.”
