NOFX Apologize About Route 91 Harvest Festival Shooting Joke

Punk rock band NOFX has finally spoken out about their tasteless joke about the Route 91 Harvest [...]

By Gayle Thompson

Punk rock band NOFX has finally spoken out about their tasteless joke about the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting. The band shared their remorse on social media.

"There's no place here to backpedal," the band says in a statement. "What NOFX said was shameful. We crossed the line of civility. We can't write songs about how people in this world need to be more decent, when we were clearly being indecent. Las Vegas has always been a welcoming city to our band, and to make light of the tragedy that occurred there was egregious. All members of the band would like to sincerely apologize to anyone who experienced loss from the Vegas shooting 8 months ago, and to anyone who was at our show, who lost a loved one or a friend, or who had to witness the incredibly senseless violence that night."

"We were asked why we didn't issue an immediate apology," they continue. "Well, we didn't feel like we could write an actual apology without reflecting on the damage we had done. No press agent was going to write this for us. That's why we have struggled with this for the past few days. We didn't plan or intend on saying anything so insensitive. It was off the cuff, but just as hurtful. We won't blame it on drugs or alcohol or Ambien. That's too easy. NOFX said it, and we own it. We made a tasteless joke. But to be clear, NOFX does not condone violence against ANY group of people, period. As sincere as we've ever been, NOFX."

Lead singer Michael "Fat Mike" Burkett also spoke out to The Blast, also admitting how much they still struggled.

"I can't sleep, no one in my band can," Burkett acknowledges. "What we said in Vegas was sh**ty and insensitive and we are all embarrassed by our remarks."

During a performance at the Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival in Las Vegas in May, Burkett said, "We played a song about Muslims and we didn't get shot. Hooray."

Another band member chimed in, "I guess you only get shot in Vegas if you are in a country band, prompting Burkett to say, "That [the massacre] sucked, but at least they were country fans and no punk rock fans."

Fans immediately took to social media to express their outrage over the remarks.

"Dear #NOFX you're not funny and until you've had to run for your life while being shot at for ten minutes, you have no right to utter a single word about that night!" said one fan. "Please don't return to Vegas."

NOFX not only lost fan support, they also lost their sponsorship with Stone Brewing, a company that both manufactured their beer and sponsored their music festival, both called Punk in Drublic.

"We respect punk rock, and the DIY ethos for which it stands," a Stone Brewing spokesperson said in a statement. "To us, it means standing up for things you believe in, and fearlessly committing to what's right. And it is for that reason that Stone Brewing is immediately disassociating ourselves from the band NOFX."

On October 1, 2017, during Jason Aldean's set as the final show of the night at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire from the window of his hotel room, killing 58 and injuring hundreds more.

Photo Credit: Facebook/NOFX

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