Hardcore Band Stick To Your Guns Dropped From Four Shows Over Alleged Pro-Putin Sentiment

Hardcore Band Stick To Your Guns Dropped From Four Shows Over Alleged Pro-Putin Sentiment
Jesse Barnett: Stick To Your Guns Facebook/ Vladimir Putin: www.kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, The Russian Presidential Press and Information Office (Wikimedia Commons)
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Hardcore band Stick To Your Guns have been dropped from four European shows due to their vocalist, Jesse Barnett, allegedly voicing pro-Putin sentiments and dismissing the war in Ukraine.

Since Russia’s initial attack on February 24th, 2022, the war in Ukraine has been ongoing. Since the launch of Russia’s invasion, many musicians have been speaking out in support of Ukraine. From Jinjer (who are from Ukraine), to Avenged Sevenfold, and many others, several artists and bands have been reaching out to do what they can to support the Ukrainian people.

The controversy surrounding Jesse Barnett all began after an individual reached out to Barnett over social media, asking about why he has been silent regarding the war taking place in Ukraine. As the individual notes in an Instagram post you will find below:

“Jesse has built an image and platform based on being anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and in support of oppressed people. I found it strange that he has shown zero support for Ukraine. So I decided to ask him why.”

The individual then reached out to the Stick To Your Guns singer, and, well, you can find their conversation below (as shared by the individual who reached out to Barnett).

*UPDATE: This Instagram post appears to be locked behind a now private account. When we located this post earlier, it was part of a public account. In short, the user had uploaded a post regarding their conversation with Barnett – asking why he had not spoken up about what is going on in Ukraine.

 

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A post shared by @coffee.and.tofu

You can find other posts regarding this story via the coffee.and.tofu Instagram account.

With these posts being shared around, Stick To Your Guns have been dropped from four shows.

In response to that initial conversation and the public perception surrounding the singer, Barnett shared a statement via his Instagram account:

“Recently there have been accusations made against me that I am a Pro Putin supporter and that I am a supporter of the war in Ukraine. People have began to call me a neo-nazi and fascist. These are not claims that I take lightly. I have tried with all of my heart and soul to be a person who adds something good to this world and who is someone who leads with justice in mind. With that being said, I know that my view points have sometimes been controversial, leading to consequences. (Being banned from venues for being pro Palestine, being banned from venues for anti religious views, not being allowed to play certain places due to my staunch anti police stance etc etc.) What’s different here is that the claims of me being a fascist, a fascist sympathizer or a genocide denier are not ones that I can just brush off. I am not a supporter of Putin or his war in Ukraine. He is not a model of anything I believe to be just or good in this world.

“There is a quote I love from a poet name Warsan Shire that goes ‘No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark’. The war in Ukraine has turned many working peoples homes into the mouth of a shark. I do not support this anywhere in the world. I believe that all people have the right to live in peace. ANYONE who takes that right away from innocent people doesn’t deserve to breathe.

“Now for some self criticism: I have allowed my hatred for America and the way it meddles in the affairs of countries across the globe to cloud my judgement when it comes to how I engage with people online. I am so passionately against America’s abhorrent treatment of human beings both in the U.S. and abroad that I made myself, in many times, unable to be reasoned with. This is something I have reflected on. I can sometimes engage with people online in a way that is so unrecognizable to my friends, peers and family who truly know me and because of this I misrepresent myself and who I am. I think that I can get so caught up in telling myself ‘the internet isn’t real’ that I forget there are real people behind the accounts. To put it plainly, that shit straight up sucks of me. The internet is a miserable place to try to have these massive and important discussions in any sort of meaningful way and more often than not, it has lead me to become overly aggressive and dismissive of people where I lash out and say things I sometimes don’t mean. Moving forward I will do my absolute best to better represent myself and the values that I genuinely hold true.

“I will be turning comments off due to recent death threats and further arguing between strangers.”

What do you make of all of this?

 

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A post shared by Jesse Barnett (@samxhandles)