Brian Wilson responds to Beach Boys' Trump fundraiser set
UPDATE: David Crosby blasts Beach Boys’ Trump rally set: “Mike Love should retire”
Mike Love hasn’t been shy about showing his support of Donald Trump, so we weren’t surprised to hear that the touring edition of Beach Boys, whose name Love holds the license to, is performing at an Orange County, CA fundraiser for Trump’s campaign tonight (Sunday, 10/18). Co-founder Brian Wilson wasn’t in the loop on the band’s appearance, however, and he’s not happy, to say the least. Speaking to Variety, a spokesperson for Wilson and fellow co-founder Al Jardine said, “We have absolutely nothing to do with the Trump benefit today in Newport Beach. Zero. We didn’t even know about it and were very surprised to read about it in the Los Angeles Times.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that tickets to the pricey affair start at $2,800 a head, and run all the way up to $150,000 for a couple.
Back in February, Wilson spoke out against Beach Boys’ set at a hunting convention that Donald Trump Jr. was the keynote speaker for. “There’s nothing we can do personally to stop the show, so please join us in signing the petition at https://www.change.org/p/beach-boys-stop-supporting-trophy-hunting,” he said at the time. Love responded that he and Beach Boys “support freedom of thought and expression as a fundamental tenet of our rights as Americans.”
Love’s Beach Boys previously headlined a Trump inaugural ball in 2017. “That was a moving experience,” he told Uncut, continuing, “Donald Trump has never been anything but kind to us. We have known him for many a year. We’ve performed at some of his venues at fundraisers and so on.”
UPDATE: David Crosby blasts Beach Boys’ Trump rally set: “Mike Love should retire”
