Norwegian Metal Band Cancels Most of North American Tour citing Pressure from Antifa, Talib Kweli – and Not Their Racist, Nazi Sympathizing Crap

A swastika on your chest might as well be a bullseye, and the lead singer of this band went on stage with one once. That and more led to this.

A Norwegian black metal band who has been the subject of concern for bigoted and Islamophobic lyrics and once saw controversy when its lead singer went on stage in Germany with a swastika drawn on his chest, has decided to cancel 10 dates of its 19-date North American tour after concerns were raised, causing some venues to shut their doors to them and rapper Talib Kweli canceling his show at one venue that was hosting them.

“It is with great regret that we have to inform you that Taake’s US Tour has been cancelled,” a statement on their Facebook page read. “Despite all those incredible people who stepped up and tried to help us save the tour, and to whom we are more grateful than we can express, time and logistics are just not on our side.

“It was not our wish to cancel, but the decision was forced on us by the illegal activities of Antifa and its supporters who applied pressure on venues and promoters to cancel shows,” the statement continued. “Pressure, it has to be said, that has frequently been accompanied with threats of violence both towards those involved in the organisation and towards any fans attending (not to mention the bands who would be playing). Why these threats are not reported to the police, we don’t know.”

The statement does not detail those threats, nor does it say that the band themselves reported such threats to the police. Meanwhile, antifascist groups that indeed led the campaigns across the country to urge venues to shut their doors to the band did so by citing past incidents of them embracing racist ideologies. The most notable incident was in 2007 when during a show in Essen, Germany, where public displays of the swastika are illegal, Taake’s lead singer Hoest went onstage with a swastika drawn on his chest. In the wake of the ensuing controversy, the band issued a statement saying it was an attempt to be provocative, but issued an apology “to all of our collaborators who might get [into] problems because of the Essen swastika scandal, except for the Untermensch [subhuman] owner of that club; you can go suck a Muslim.”Taake attacked Muslims further in their overtly nationalistic 2011 album Noregs Vaapen (“Norway’s Weapon”), and Hoest appeared on stage in 2013 wearing a shirt with the cresent and star, which symbolizes Islam, crossed out with the red “no” circle.

Taake was supposed to have started it’s tour on March 24 in New York City, but after NYC Antifa alerted the venue about the past accusations against the band, the venue chose to cancel the date. Soon, venues in Chicago, Portland and Salt Lake City, began to pull Taake from their schedule, while the band’s opener, goth-country artist King Dude, pulled out of the tour, saying in a statement that, “I am a Luciferian and do not preach hate, nor would I endorse a setting that allows hate to happen.”

Ironically, King Dude’s decision to pull out of the tour did not illicit a singling out by the band, and no one, including antifascist groups were accused of libel and slander, but when rapper Talib Kweli, himself a former member of the Five Percent Nation and while today not a Muslim defends against its demonization, pulled his show out of a Kansas City venue that remained steadfast in keeping their March 31 date with Taake, they charged his statements concerning the issue as being “libellous and slanderous,” stating further, “His heart may have misguidedly been in the right place, but his brain, and his legal advisors, were not. Had he bothered to check the facts he would have realised that he had put himself in a position of looking like someone who doesn’t know, or understand, or even care about, all the facts, and who is easily manipulated by others to dance to their tune.” The venue canceled the Taake date soon after.

No information about any remaining dates have been made available at press time.