NOFX Release Apology For Joking Onstage About Las Vegas Concert Shooting Victims

Oof. It takes a lot for NOFX to apologise for saying gnarly shit onstage - a thing they've done since day one - but universal condemnation and taking away their sponsorship and branded beer has gone and done it. 

NOFX have issued an official apology for the onstage jokes they made during their set at last weekend’s Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival in Vegas. The band made fun of the October 2017 Vegas concert shooting, saying, “I guess you only get shot in Vegas if you are in a country band,” then, “You know that, sucked but at least they were country fans and not punk rock fans.” 

In light of their remarks the band were removed from their own Camp Punk In Drublic festival (being removed from your own festival line up has got to smart), as were Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, who of course include NOFX‘s Fat Mike. They also lost their partnership with Stone Brewing Co.

Their official apology reads as follows:

“There’s no place here to backpedal. What NOFX said in Vegas 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 release an immediate apology. Well, we didn’t feel that we could write a sincere apology without reflecting on the actual damage we had done. No press agent was gonna 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“