Jeff Rosenstock is the latest artist to drop out of the German music festival Booze Cruise. He released the following statement on Instagram:
“After much thought and offline conversations, we will not be playing at Booze Cruise this year. We are very sorry to everyone who was looking forward to it. Stop using our tax dollars to fund genocide.”
This follows accusations that the festival's organizers are Zionists, to which organizers responded by issuing the following statement on Instagram earlier this month (April 15):
” Like many Jews and Israeli citizens, I do not support the current Israeli government and have no knowledge of Israel's settlement plans. The pacifist optimist in me would like to see two peace states, Hamas in jail, Netanyahu ousted, and Palestinians free to travel, work, and love whoever they choose. I hope so.
So if you have a different perspective on Israel's existence, Booze Cruise may not be the festival you want to attend this summer. If you think shouting “from the river…” is an acceptable statement, it's not. In fact, according to German law, it's a crime. If you're posting terms like “i$rael,” “z!onist,” or “gen0cide,” please stop altogether. If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact us. ”
Toodles and a hectic party On April 15th, the festival was canceled with the following statement: twitter In part,
“We won't be playing Booze Cruise in Hamburg anymore or going to Germany next month. If you don't believe in the liberation of Palestine, don't book our band, don't listen to our music. Please, don’t come to our show.”
Teenage Halloween canceled the festival on April 16th, issuing the following statement: twitter read,
“Teenage Halloween has decided to withdraw from Booze Cruise. We will also be unable to fulfill any other dates scheduled in the EU. We hope to return to the EU as soon as possible. Thank you for understanding”.
The full text of all posts can be found below.