Calgary post-punk outfit Viet Cong are facing band name-related backlash, after the Vietnamese student community at Oberlin College in Ohio lodged complaints regarding the band’s scheduled on-campus performance on March 14th.
In a statement posted on the venue’s Facebook page, promoter Ivan Krasnov apologized “for inviting a band with a name that deeply offends and hurts Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American communities, both in Oberlin and beyond.” Krasnov booked Viet Cong with the best intentions, but notes that talent should “not be booked at the expense of hurting, offending, or making uncomfortable the...students and general public.” As a result of concerns raised by the Oberlin student community, the performance has been cancelled.
Krasnov calls into question the band’s laissez faire defense of their band name in interviews, and a “seeming indifference to its effects and implications.” Matt Flegel (Viet Cong frontman) told Impose Magazine that the name originates ‘from us being teenagers and watching movies...the Viet Cong were always the bad asses in movies.”
Viet Cong currently have 41 tour dates booked, and there’s no word yet if more dates will be cancelled in solidarity with the decision in Oberlin. The band has yet to release a statement on the controversial cancellation.
Where do you land on the issue? Is the show cancellation in Oberlin warranted? Sound off in the comments below.
