Chicago club cancels anti-gay neo-Nazi band's performance

The Gay Liberation Network has claimed victory against an anti-gay band after their threat of a protest against the neo-Nazi band Evil Incarnate's scheduled appearance at the West Side's White Star Night Club on Dec. 19 forced the promoter to cancel their appearance.

Evil Incarnate, a band based in Chicago, came under fire from both the GLN and Anti-Racist Action for their violently anti-gay, racist lyrics to the song "Killer of Faggots." The lyrics include "N----r lovers and faggots / Bullets in your head / N----r lovers and faggots / Now your [sic] dead ... Bombing the faggots into oblivion / Bombing the n----rs into oblivion."

While the band originally claimed the song was written 20 years ago, its inclusion on an anti-gay compilation titled "Smashing Rainbows," released earlier this year on Fetch the Rope Records seems to indicate the band still stands behind its lyrical content.

"I myself am Mexican; I don't appreciate that kind of racist or anti-homosexual b.s.," promoter Renato Brierio said in a GLN press release. "I have removed Evil Incarnate from the festival, they have officially announced that they are not playing this fest. Their ideology... does not represent the views and opinions of anyone at White Star or any of the other bands."

While GLN co-founder Andy Thayer had originally received an e-mail from the White Star owner that seemed to indicate the band's appearance at the club would continue in spite their protest, he told EDGE the response was due to a language barrier. And he added the club was later cooperative.

Thayer said he was not surprised by White Star's concession to GLN's call for the band's canceled gig. He said he feels it was an important victory against anti-gay and racist rhetoric.

"It shows the value of people getting involved and organizing in your own community, taking matters into your own hands, in this case, by the many people who contacted the club about this band," Thayer told EDGE. "That's the way civil rights change is made."

GLN has also been active in organizing protests against appearances of Grammy-nominated reggae Buju Banton, whose lyrics have advocated anti-gay violence.

Pressure from the GLN and other groups resulted in the cancellation of Banton's Oct. 1 appearance at the House of Blues, in addition to a number of other cancellations nationwide by the concert's promoter Live Nation as EDGE previously reported.