photo: Whirr at Baby’s All Right in April (more by Mimi Hong)
Whirr are no strangers to controversy, but yesterday they came under fire for some offensive comments that got them dropped from one of their labels. They posted a series of tweets insulting G.L.O.S.S., the Olympia, WA punk band of transgender women whose name stands for Girls Living Outside Society’s Shit. The tweets were as follows:
Plenty of other people on Twitter immediately took notice and called them out for transphobia, including several other bands. Their Run for Cover labelmates Crying, Tiny Engines band Adult Mom, members of Swearin’ and Waxahatchee and more all weighed in:
This is Whirr. pic.twitter.com/78TanNuEwj
— CRYING (@cryingband) October 20, 2015
@cryingband word this is funny but I'd rather you be more outwardly critical about their violence tbh
— ADULT MOM (@adultmomband) October 20, 2015
Honestly its fucked up that people have been supporting Whirr prior to this violence, they've ALWAYS been fucked up.
— ADULT MOM (@adultmomband) October 20, 2015
.@rfcrecords you should definitely drop Whirr
— Allison Crutchfield (@aqcrutchfield) October 20, 2015
yeah @free_whirl are transphobic af / supporters of this band should check themselves / GET WITH THE NOW
— waxahatchee (@k_crutchfield) October 20, 2015
Nothing, who share a member with Whirr, tweeted that whoever made that post from the Whirr account “does not have ANYTHING to do with my opinions or this band.” The singer of G.L.O.S.S. also joined Twitter just to fuck with Whirr:
@free_whirl r u just sad u missed the boat on punk and play music for people with Macklemore hair who blog about bacon-infused bloodymarys?
— SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015
@free_whirl "boys in panties" > boys with clean flannels and backstage laminates who hate women because they know women are superior to them
— SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015
@free_whirl your band is nothing but background music for Pitchfork-reading GoogleGlass enthusiasts and NPR liberals
— SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015
One of Whirr’s labels, Run For Cover Records, took notice and quickly decided to drop Whirr from their label:
We as individuals and as a label are accepting of all people and require the same from the bands and people we work with…
— Run For Cover (@rfcrecords) October 20, 2015
We will not be working with Whirr from this point on and do not support that behavior in anyway. We will post a full statement tomorrow.
— Run For Cover (@rfcrecords) October 20, 2015
G.L.O.S.S. is awesome and crucially important and we need more bands like them.
— Run For Cover (@rfcrecords) October 20, 2015
Whirr’s most recent album came out on Graveface Records, who have yet to comment.
UPDATE: Nick Bassett (the member who is also in Nothing) deleted the tweets about G.L.O.S.S. and posted the following apology:
UPDATE 2: Graveface has now tweeted the following:
@vivalanina Rest assured I'm not cool with any of this. Being on tour I'm just now checking my socials and I'm pretty floored.
— Graveface Records (@graveface_recs) October 20, 2015
Graveface supports positive action and equality. We have zero interest in working w/ hateful people. Donate here: https://t.co/IP8KBjZ4H0
— Graveface Records (@graveface_recs) October 20, 2015
UPDATE 3: Pitchfork asked Run For Cover if Whirr’s apology changes their decision at all, and RFC’s Jeff Casazza replied:
Frankly, no, it doesn’t change anything. We were aware of the information in Whirr’s statement when we made the decision. Although the band is not signed to our label, and never have been, we have decided to not work with them in the future, and stop selling their releases we did have a hand in. Also, despite being at a financial net loss with Whirr and Camera Shy, we will be donating $3,000 to a TBA non profit in support of equal rights for LGBTQ.
We will be posting what organization later today, we just didn’t want to jump the gun on that decision.
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