My Story: For quite a while I was not a big fan of what punk rockers had to preach. However when I looked more into Anti-Flag they have helped me be more open minded. Every lyric by them has shaped who I am today. For those unfamiliar, Anti Flag is a punk band that talks about woman's rights, workers rights, and condemns war, fascism, and bigotry of any kind in their lyrics. I had the opportunity to tell Justin Sane how much his lyrics helped me and shaped me and open my mind.

Anti Flag would be on tour and close with other bands popular in the punk scene like Bad Religion, NOFX, Rise Against, etc... these bands would talk about similar issues in their lyrics.

A few days ago Anti-Flag announced that they would disband and also all of their band social medias and personal social medias were shut down immediately. I was in denial at first, but found out that the lead singer who have written songs supporting feminism, and open minded progressive movements turned out to be a rapist. Now I feel betrayed by this band and how hypocritical it is for a band that preaches open mindedeness to act selfish and do something against the movements they preached us to believe in.

The Problem: There has not been an official statement by this band for about a few days now. And other punk bands like Bad Religion, NOFX, Rise Against who talk about similar issues, and other punk record labels like Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph did not make any sort of mention of the issue and the rape allegations that Justin Sane faces. WE WANT OTHER PUNK BANDS TO CONDEMN JUSTINS ACTIONS and TALK ABOUT THIS ISSUE MORE! Otherwise punk as a counterculture to a closed minded discriminating society is dead.

If you have a hard time believing that a band that would write lyrics for progressive change is guilty. Take a look at this podcast with the victim...

Here is the video below...

 

 

I have not heard ANYTHING from Bad Religion's, Rise Against's, or NOFX's social media accounts about Justin Sane's horrendous actions.

If punk rock is an open minded genre that preaches for human rights why aren't they condemning a rapist/predator in their scene?

I know a few local bands or smaller bands dropped out of thier record label.

What we Ask: We are losing faith in punk rock, we are confused, and we will lose supporters of progressive ideology if people don't talk about this more. We invite the members of Bad Religion, NOFX, Rise Against, etc... to condemn Justin Sane publicly. We are begging you too. We need to hear from Fat Mike, Brian Baker, Tim McIlarth and other big names that worked with Anti-Flag, we would even like to hear from Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine as well. This is sick and disgusting and should not be tolerated in the punk community. Especially after running away from all accusations too.

WE WANT TO HEAR MORE BANDS SPEAK OUT AGAINST JUSTIN SANE'S SEXUAL ABUSE!

We want answers! And we want them ASAP!

Thank you,

 

Eric Clash