Who are the Dropkick Murphys? All about the band amid Elon Musk's X controversy

The hardcore punk band, Dropkick Murphys, is known for its rebellious attitude on stage and its anti-Trump and Musk stance. They're currently making headlines, mainly because of their strong opinions towards Trump's regime and his supporters. However, the band recently became involved in a controversy regarding their official account on X (formerly Twitter). We'll get into the details shortly, but before that let's find out who are the Dropkick Murphys.

Dropkick Murphys, widely known for their Celtic punk sound, is a six-piece band consisting of Ken Casey (co-lead vocalist and bass player), James Lynch (rhythm and lead guitar player), Jeff DaRosa (rhythm guitar player), Al Barr (co-lead vocalist), Tim Brennan (lead guitar player and multi-instrumentalist) and Matt Kelly (drummer). The idea behind the band's name came from Dr. John E. Dropkick Murphy, who was a wrestler and the owner of an alcohol detoxification facility.

Like many other hundreds of bands, Dropkick Murphy also began rehearsing and playing in the basement of a barbershop that belonged to one of their friends. Ken Casey, who is originally from the city of Quincy in Massachusetts, formed the band in 1996 along with Mike McColgan, Jeff Erna, and Rick Barton. Except for Casey, the rest were replaced by the current band members.

Like most new artists, Dropkick Murphys needed a push and an opportunity to showcase their talent. After playing for a year, in 1997 they got their first big chance, which was to headline the famous Boston-based ska punk band, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. After working on a bunch of EPs, the band finally released their debut album Do or Die, produced by Lars Frederiksen, who is the lead singer and guitarist of the punk rock band Rancid.

Dropkick Murphys, eventually became a successful punk band, releasing numerous hits. Not many people are aware but their 2005 song I'm Shipping Up to Boston was featured in Martin Scorses's Academy Award-winning crime thriller film, The Departed. However, now that you know who are the Dropkick Murphys, let's learn about their recent controversy.

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Let's take a closer look at Dropkick Murphys' latest controversy

As we mentioned earlier, the official Dropkick Murphys' account on X was not exactly banned or suspended for their strong opinions towards President Donald Trump or Elon Musk. It was the band who left the platform in 2022. According to the band, they did not want to be on a platform that was owned by Musk, who was only halfway into becoming a Nazi.

On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, Dropkick Murphys cleared all the confusion in a statement to Variety that they left X in 2022 after Musk bought it. And that the platform did not ban or suspend them. The frontman of the band, Ken Casey said:

"We broke up with him first. We quit Twitter in 2022 when he was only half a Nazi."

Then Casey further clarified:

"Then someone else took our handle, pretending to be our official account, so we filed a legal complaint to put a stop to that—which is why @dropkickmurphys shows as suspended. Look, we pulled our account because we didn’t want to be part of that guy’s empire. But if we were still on there, I’m sure he would have suspended us by now."

This was pretty much what the band's frontman had to say about the controversy. However, according to Variety, the main reason behind the band's account suspension on X was that they previously put forward radical opinions directed towards President Trump and tech billionaire Musk and their supporters.

Dropkick Murphys, as a band and as an artist have been very vocal about their political stance and their ideologies. They write songs about brotherhood, friendship, standing with families, people who fought wars, and so on. As artists, they've always stood beside the working class people, who work hard in building the country and they also support union causes. Not to mention, they have a connection with the largest federation of unions in America known as the AFL-CIO (the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations).