Shell Shock II festival is set to be held in Orlando, Florida on October 19, 2024. The metal music festival this year has invited Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killed two of them and severely injured the other in 2020. Rittenhouse was acquitted of the charges of murder subsequently in 2021.
The announcement of his attendance at the festival has garnered negative reactions from bands who were set to perform at the festival. Evergreen Terrace, Southpaw, and Let Me Bleed as well as American Hollow have all withdrawn from the festival.
Shell Shock II has responded to the withdrawal of the bands as of the writing of this article, posting a statement on their Instagram page:
Bands elaborate on their withdrawal from Shell Shock II
Evergreen Terrace released their statement elaborating on their withdrawal from Shell Shock II on September 30, 2024:
"Evergreen Terrace has always supported and continues to support philanthropic events for veterans, PTSD awareness, child poverty, and many more, but we will not align with an event promoting a perceived murderer such as Kyle Rittenhouse capitalizing off of their pseudo celebrity."
The statement continued:
"Unfortunately we did not do our due diligence with this particular event. Even after they offered to pull Kyle from the event, we discovered several associated entities that we simply do not agree with. As advocates for free speech we are respectfully canceling the Shell Shock festival."
Southpaw also released a statement explaining their withdrawal from the Shell Shock festival, stating in a post on their official Instagram page on October 1, 2024:
"As of yesterday, Southpaw has dropped off Shell Shock festival in Orlando, Florida. We knew going into this that the festival was veteran based, which we support. But knew nothing of a particular individual being a main focus of support for the show until after accepting it."
The statement continues:
"Due to the events that have taken place and drama surrounding this particular individual, we made the decision to respectfully step down. This simply is not we signed for. Period. Southpaw does not and will not get involved in politics. Therefore we will not align ourselves with it. Southpaw is about the Music. Persevearance as an individual and the culture of hardcore."
Let Me Bleed stated in their statement that they did not know about the "problematic individual" until after they decided to participate in the festival. The band decided to withdraw from the festival upon learning of this, stating that they could not condone the inclusion of such entities.
In a statement to USA Today, Tyler Hoover, the founder of Shell Shock festival stated that anyone who wishes to attend the festival is welcome and that they will not discriminate against anyone.
The festival has been described by Eventbrite as an event that believes in there being a 'united front' amongst the men and women who still need to fight after completing their service in the military. The event invites both military veterans as well as the first responders who support the military and aims to form a united resilient community with the help of all the participants.
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The festival will replace its headliners with a Slipknot tribute band named SiC. The Texan band is so far the only replacement to be announced by the festival after the withdrawal of the bands.
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