King Dude
King Dude (photo by Angel Ceballos)

King Dude drops off Taake tour following resurfaced accusations of Nazism against Taake

Earlier this month, Norwegian black metal vets Taake announced a North American tour with goth-country artist King Dude. About a week after the announcement, the show at NYC venue Le Poisson Rouge was cancelled after Antifa groups urged venues to rethink hosting the show and brought up a past incident of Taake frontman Hoest wearing a swastika on stage in 2007. Other venues followed suit, and Hoest then issued a statement saying that the swastika incident was a one-off moment of misjudgment and not meant to show support for the Nazi ideology. “So, once and for all, Taake is not a racist band. Never has been, never will be,” Hoest said.

Now, King Dude has dropped off the tour “for reasons out of my control, and frankly out of my realm of understanding.” He writes:

For reasons out of my control, and frankly out of my realm of understanding, I will be removing myself from the tour with Taake. It must be made clear that I am a Luciferian and do not preach hate, nor would I endorse a setting that allows hate to happen. I believe in both personal and spiritual growth as well as the spread of knowledge beyond all sacrifice and at all costs. The banner under which people enter a King Dude concert must be welcoming to all people of all walks of life, race, religion, gender etc. This should go without saying as this has always been the way I have conducted my concerts and I’m not sure why it should change for this tour. I absolutely do not welcome political discourse at my concerts as it has no place there. My concerts are a place that should be a sanctuary for everyone, a place for people to find church without having to go to one.

Stay tuned here for updates regarding make up shows to all of you. Thanks again for your continued support.

With the Light and Love of Lucifer,

– King Dude