After Ariel Pink was dropped from Mexican Summer following his attendance at the Trump rally that turned into the Capitol Hill riot last week, indie pop connoisseur Tucker Carlson decided Pink’s setback was “a moment that tells you a lot about where we are and where we’re going.” To get to the bottom of this, Carlson, likely moments after throwing out his Cate Le Bon records in disgust, invited Pink onto his show for a discussion of the latest example of what Pink sadly describes as “cancel culture.”
Pink, who says he was in Washington D.C., just to check out “a peaceful rally,” tells Carlson’s furrowed brow that he’s especially sad because he “didn’t vote so much for Trump as against cancel culture and this environment that’s been blazing for about four years but is about to ramp up and get even worse.” (We imagine the fact that Pink is also currently in the midst of a court case centered on sexual and physical abuse allegations informs his opinion of “cancel culture,” too.)
Spurred on by a chyron reading “MUSICIAN UNFAIRLY CANCELED AFTER CAPITOL HILL RIOT,” Fox News viewers are now forced into the uncomfortable position of having to support Pink if they want to stand up against the forces of Cultural Marxism—something people like PJ Vogt immediately pegged as a gorgeous new wrinkle in the modern political landscape.
A quick search of “ariel pink patriot” on Twitter yields a bunch of good examples of how quickly the MAGA set can find their favorite new artist. We learn from them, in one case, that “his music creates world peace” and, as Megyn Kelly notes, that “this guy got canceled just for going to listen to Trump speak.”
Plenty of people have noted that Pink’s new fans are now also going to have to actually listen to their new favorite musician, which may not go as well as they hope.
As for Pink himself, his Tucker Carlson appearance means he’s now found a new demographic that will no doubt support him long into the future, buying his new records and waving Gadsden flags as he tours in support of other exciting acts like Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, and Wayne Newton.
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118 Comments
It’s funny how these idiots are rallying behind this obscure indie musician few people have heard of purely to spite the left. It reminds me how a lot of people thought Pewdipie was an annoying but suddenly every right wing douche was rallying around him after he did an anti-semitism.
I have to be perfectly honest and say it kinda hurt that a musician I do like has turned out to be a right-wing chud. It’s not something that frequently happens with musicians, since the more conservative ones generally seem to make shitty music, or just leached off their other, more talented bandmates (looking at you, Mike Love). The bright side is, once someone shows themselves to be an intolerant douche, you stop missing them pretty quickly. I pity conservatives who only have a small pool of very shitty conservative-made art/music to enjoy
We always knew he had problems, just not how bad it was. This news was enough but the details of his lawsuit are even worse: gave his gf herpes intentionally, allegedly sent nude pics of his gf to people without her consent, etc.
This news was enough but the details of his lawsuit are even worse…Exactly. This is just the latest in a series of reprehensible actions and statements. Also, dude hasn’t made a good album in years.
The worst is authors. It’s always utterly shocking, because their books will have inevitably taught lessons and shared morals that are completely antithetical to the ideas being expressed by the author. It’s like, has Orson Scott Card never read any Orson Scott Card books?
I know if anyone ever mistook me for a conservative asshole, obviously the first thing I would do is go complain about it to Tucker Carlson.
I know, right? Especially since Jan. 6th Tucker has ramped up his evil awful to an eleven.
We call this the Glenn Greenwald Axiom.There’s also a Tusli Gabbard Addendum.
But won’t it all be worth it if just one idiot basement chud is able to broaden his musical horizons? Somebody out there has just gotten confused enough that they might accidentally listening to good stuff.I think there’s a whole host of interesting music that could interest and benefit the whole MAGA crowd: they can start with some White Reaper, move on to White Denim, White Lung, White Stripes, and work their way up to the Velvet’s “White Light/White Heat”.
White Lion…Whitesnake…
Your record label can drop you for any reason. They can also choose to shelve any recordings you submit. Your record label owns what you produce. What a dipshit.
Hey, look at it this way. He will always have work as an opener for Ted Nugent or Kid Rock. Two definitely awesome musicians that will help lift up his career now that art school kids will no longer smoke weed to his covers.
Doesn’t Kid Rock have black members in his backing band? Man, that has to be awkward now…
“They can also choose to shelve any recordings you submit. Your record label owns what you produce.”Ariel Pink is a shitty person and I don’t care about his music either, but it’s weird that you’re acting like this specific aspect of the music business is a good thing. In a better world, the artist owns what they produce. In some post-scarcity fantasy society, I’d say nobody owns it. But yeah, record labels have almost certainly shelved recordings, denying them to the world, of artists we don’t hate, for probably any number of idiotic reasons.
I agree with you. The music business is so shady and corrupt. I didn’t mean it to sound like I’m siding with Big Music, I just meant that he’s not being cancelled by them, just dropped, which happens all the time. I apologize that it came out otherwise.
Say what you will about Ariel, he was great in The Little Mermaid.
“Come in here, dear boy, have a cigarYou’re gonna go far, you’re gonna flyYou’re never gonna dieYou’re gonna make it if you tryThey’re gonna love youWell I’ve always had a deep respectAnd I mean that most sincereThe band is just fantasticThat is really what I thinkOh by the way, which one’s pink?”
Remember everyone, conservative is the new punk.
“The masses are coming down on me and trampling my rights!” says the fascism-supporting bootlicker.
these are the people who say Louis CK has the RIGHT to surprise and perform for paying audiences or to appear at clubs without other comics deciding not to then perform at those clubs because he has the “right to earn a living”which right I think must be in one of those penumbras
Or acting like it’s no big deal he jerked off in front of a bunch of women without their consent.
Even if you’re being really really generous and think no sexual assault took place, that’s still a gross creepy thing to do.
My reaction to people arguing that’s no big deal is “great, you’re never babysitting my kids, creep”
Not to mention what…just what was his endgame there, exactly? These two young women were going to watch a fat, bald, old man jack-off and it was going to make their panties wet? How was he expecting this particular scenario to play out?
Sexual assault isn’t about pleasure, it’s about dominance. Louis CK got off on forcing women to watch him do that. It’s barely one step above the kind of behavior you’d see from a chimpanzee. And anybody who doesn’t think it’s a big deal is as gross as he is.
So I am old and did not know who Ariel Pink was so I figured I would listen to a few of his songs and try to figure out if I recognize one. I think I can safety say that losing him to the MAGA chuds is no great loss. Does all his music sound like it was recorded in a closet on a “my first recorder” toy?What is his most famous song that maybe hit mainstream or at least indy mainstream? I really don’t recognize anything of his I listened to but like I said I am old and not in touch with the cool kids music much these days
His most famous song is “Round and Round,” which is helpfully linked above. It’s a change of pace, production-wise; his prior work has been deliberately low-fi, like some long-lost mix cassette that you just found when cleaning your attic.
“Round and Round” “L’estat” and “Put Your Number In My Phone” are probably the only songs of his I’m sad to lose cutting his music out of my playlists. He’s put out a lot of stuff that’s difficult to listen to.
His most well known song that occasionally plays in dive bars was just a cover anyway. Otherwise the rest of his catalogue is totally forgettable and will not be missed by anyone who listens to enough music to stumble upon his work. Here ya go:
you’re not a music fan if you think his music is totally forgettable. sorry, but the guy’s a musical genius. him being a trump supporter is wild, but i can live with that if his musical output is as great as it is.i understand the need to vent but don’t talk rubbish about the music.
Do you also bend over backwards to defend R kelly? Dude had more bops than this indie clown but I still acknowledge him as a horrible person and no longer listen to his music. There are plenty of musicians out there doing the same shit that Ariel was doing at the height of his career, nobody will miss him. Congrats on thinking you’re taking the higher ground, you’ll have some great company next time you see one of his garbage live shows.
Wah wah, R Kelly music still bops, I still listen to it. He gonna be in jail anyways.
Uhmmm. No. “you’re not a music fan” is one of the most ridiculous statements ever made. You’re gatekeeping all music? That’s fucking new.
its al abuot the musik, mann!
If you don’t like Lays Ketchup Chips, you’re not a human who has ever enjoyed eating.
You should read about his ex gf’s lawsuit
Sure, Jan.
(I can’t even be bothered to put in the effort to post the gif.)
You’ve listened to like two songs ever if you refer to this as “musical genius.”
Alternating between whimpering on records like a fragile asshole and imitating forgettable ‘80s British pop bands doesn’t make you a “musical genius”. And gatekeeping a concept as large as “being a music fan” is just silly.
I will say thanks to Ariel I found out about Donnie and Joe Emmerson
Dreamin’ Wild is a better album than all of Ariel Pink’s work combined. It’s a bummer that he is associated with their rediscovery after failing to obscurity in the 70s, but it seems like Ariels history of being a racist homophobic piece of shit goes back further than just showing up to a trump rally and complaining about it to tucker.
Old Man Yells at Clod
Nilus used to be with it. Then they changed what it was. Now what Nilus’s with isn’t it and what it is weird and scary.
But Nilus is not alone….
You make me feel like dancin’!Wanna dance the night away!
“Lipstick” is probably his most well-known song.
You’re not old.Also, age has far less to do with pop-culture awareness than interest.
he’s more critically adored rather than mass popular. music nerds will know who he is. check out his song “Round and Round” (the song that got everyone interested in him in 2010) or listen to his ‘Mature Themes’ album 🙂
actually, don’t listen to anything by him anymoreand I’ve been hearing “Another Weekend Out of My Life” in stores and places I think
Ariel Pink – Put Your Number In My Phone (Official Video) – YouTube
Hey don’t sweat it, I’m old and I never heard of him too. But just cuz you’re old doesn’t mean you can’t have an open mind to the “cool kids” music. Listen to Black Pumas, Broken Bells, Future Islands or Michael Kiwanuka. Just to name a few
Ariel Pink? More like Ariel STINK, amirite fellas??Sincerely,S. Hannity
More like Aryan Pink
Whining about this guy being cancelled is like whining about Manimal and Supertrain being cancelled.
Or the legendary TV series “Shasty McNasty” for that matter, old sport.
Don’t forget the true tragedy cancellation that was Man From Atlantis. Although that did lead to Patrick Duffy immediately getting signed to star in Dallas which lead to his immortalization in the Bobby Shower Scene aka Pam’s year long bad dream.
YOU SHUT UP ABOUT MANIMAL
CENSORSHIP!
“Many of Pink’s remarks in interviews have incited controversy, particularly among left-leaning indie music communities.[12] Some of his provocations included “It’s not illegal to be racist”, “This gay marriage stuff pisses me off”, and his expressed “love” for necrophiliacs, pedophiles, and the Westboro Baptist Church.[12] His negative press reached a peak around the release of Pom Pom, when detractors variously labelled him a “troll”, a “beta male”, and a “misogynist”.[75] Fans argued that he is simply a glib speaker.[76][nb 6]In October 2014, Pink told the online journal Faster Louder that Interscope Records contacted him about working with Madonna. He said they needed “something edgy. … She can’t just have her Avicii, her producers or whatever, come up with a new techno jam for her to gyrate to and pretend that she’s 20 years old.”[77] The article embroiled him into a minor controversy, with Grimes calling his comments “delusional misogyny”.[12][78] He denied that he was a misogynist and said that he had only repeated what he was told by an Interscope agent.[12] John Maus addressed Pink’s remarks with a lengthy analysis published on Twitter. He concluded that Pink is not a misogynist, although he is “a nymphomaniac, a little girl, a dog, etc.”[79]Pink admitted that one of his tactics with interviewers is to talk so much that the other person has no opportunity to ask a question. He resents interviews and fame, explaining “I’d like to get by without making a fool of myself, running my mouth all the time. It’s not helping me.”[12] He also believes that some publications quote him out of context for clickbait, and that generally, “the media lies to us all the time.”[12] In December 2020, during a podcast appearance, Pink stated that he believed the recent election results were tampered by the Democratic party “in some sort of collaboration with China”. He opined that Trump represented “an indictment on anything bullshit … I’m so gay for Trump, I would let him fuck me in the butt.”[89] Furthermore, he voiced skepticism with the scientific community, saying that many of their claims, including those for climate change, “probably [are] bullshit” and politically influenced, and added that he had disagreed with his father, a medical doctor, about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine.[89]”Sounds like he fits right in, aside from making music anathema to what all the magas I know like.
‘Pink admitted that one of his tactics with interviewers is to talk so much that the other person has no opportunity to ask a question.’Great, so he’s the Ben Shapiro of the music world. Fuck this dweeb.
The funny thing is, if metal musicians were famous enough to have their own wiki pages, this really could have been applied to a lot of them.Fuck nazi dweebs.
You really don’t keep up with the metal scene, do you? Metalheads are surprisingly left-leaning.
I actually really do. Was the technical editor at Toilet ov Hell for 5 years. Yes, a lot of bands, like False, Dawn Ray’s, etc. are leftists. But there are a huge number of nazis in metal too, unfortunately. The NSBM bands are all fairly obvious, and we know about Horna and Inquisition, but what you may not realize are the nazis lurking in anonymity. Deathspell Omega’s vocalist is a nazi, but the guys in Mgla have no problem playing with him. The lead man behind Nightbringer and Akhlys and Bestia Arcana is into Evola and Order of the Nine Angles. And, based on Instagram posts, there’s good reason to think Portal’s guitarist is pretty cool with racial genocide. And just this week folks saw Jon Schaffer at the Capitol siege.So miss me with this. Metal has a nazi problem because folks want to turn a blind eye to its nazi problem.
Just to put things in perspective, Iced Earth are trying to cover their asses from the backlash over Schaffer. Not to mention that Slayer “retired” because it turned out that Araya was a Nazi, with King and Bostaph getting back together and moving-on without him. SOAD hasn’t been doing any work together (minus those two singles they dropped about a month ago) because Dolmayan’s a Trump-supporter.Notice any consistencies here? Right-wingers are toxic for any band that wants to maintain their success and popularity. Guys like Schaffer, Araya, and Dolmayan wind-up in the deep-recesses of shitty nightclubs, playing to a couple-dozen people in relative obscurity.They aren’t welcome in the mainstream metal community, that much is certain. Saying the metal scene has a Nazi problem is like saying Twitter has a Nazi problem; sure, they have some Nazi’s, but they’re still disowned by their peers. Nazi’s are everywhere, it’s definitely not just a metal thing.
Next week’s Wiki Wormhole is going to be something else.
Wait, so he purposely talks a bunch of shit, then the media reports it, then he says the media lies because they are reporting on the lies or bullshit that he himself said but didn’t mean (supposedly)? I guess that’s an effective ouroboros of assholery, he should fit right in with the other right-wing douchebags.
I seem to remember reading that Richard Spencer loves New Wave because it’s the whitest shit around. I can see certain types of hipster racists getting into Ariel Pink for the same reason.
I’m more and more convinced that anyone who ever uses the word “patriot” for any reason should be viewed with extreme suspicion.
I’ve known that since 1981.
As someone who’s lived in New England for the last twenty years… yup, checks out.
I once saw some lefty go off on a newsboard thus:
San Francisco liberals: GAYS
New York Liberals: JEWSHeritage: BIGOTRY“real Americans”: ASSHOLESPatriots: MORONSI thought it was a bit childish at the time, but as the years pass, I’m beginning to think that that guy might have had a point.
That’s a good list. “Liberal elites” is usually also “Jews”.
Not always, I think, but often. Sometimes it can mean “college professors.” “European bankers,” on the other hand…
I’m from Chicago so I’m in that vague realm of “Godless City Dwellers.”
Cancel Culture is out of control. MAGA really owned The Libs on this one. I recently read that The Libs are trying to cancel bathing your genitals in ghost pepper extract. I hope those fine MAGA folks don’t let that injustice stand.
I liked Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. But like, I had honestly thought he’d like, OD’d or something when I was in college. Not that I wish that on him or anyone, but seeing him pop up again a decade after I last cared about his music is wild.Let’s all stream Jay Reatard instead. RIP, gone too soon.
I have been revisiting Jay’s music lately and it totally holds up. He was an ass, but at least he wasn’t a fascist.
What the hell does a label dropping an artist because they’ve just turned bad for business to do with “cancel culture”? That’s just good ol’ capitalism, dear republicans, which supposedly you guys are all about!
Ariel Pink’s primary audience is right-leaning goombas anyways, his records aren’t bad for business.
Apparently it was cool when it happened to the (former Dixie) Chicks. Cuz….
It’s the wonderful world of blatant hypocrisy!
Who?
My wife, Eleanor.
My wife, Eleanor.
I want you to rivet. Rivet, rivet, rivet.
No returns! He’s yours forever!
It’s interesting these people think a new culture has sprung up around the idea “if you’re a shitty person, I don’t want to work with you or support you”. I think they used to call that the free market.
well, it is kinda new because now it’s affecting white men. back in the day – like, last week, maybe – they’d just be called genius or artist or visionary or something.
Yeah, Pitchfork has had a hell a week … Ariel Pink and the lead singer of Beach Slang have been revealed to be terrible people … what shitty singer/band that they insist is brilliant can be next?
These are the people who just love to film themselves steamrolling over Dixie Chicks CDs, smashing up coffeemakers, burning shoes, etc. The hypocrisy never ends. Maybe now that Charlie Daniels has passed they can get Ariel Pink to record a song about how Benghazi never leaves us, or whatever.
It was the free market until the market decided their ideas were shit.
It’s the free market when they do it, “cancel culture” when we do it
Weyes Blood is sending them both divorce papers.
she had worked with him, but she just made an album with Tim Heidecker. Please don’t tell me anything bad about her.
From now on all of Ariel Pink’s albums will be exclusive to Substack.
Is Substack becoming the “anti-cancel culture” site or something? I hadn’t heard of it until Matt Taibbi went there, and then Glenn Greenwald, and then… a pattern seemed to be forming.
“No loss.”, says anyone reasonable person with a Spotify account.Also, what, is John Maus chopped liver?
I don’t understand the arguments about “cancel culture”. Are people supposed to support famous people no matter what they do?
It’s more complex than that. So a trio of lady country musicians once said something negative about a man who waged an unjustified war on false pretenses and it was justice to ruin their career. A famous comedian repeatedly exposes himself and it’s villainous “cancel culture” to think he should face consequences. A man took a knee during a song at a sporting event and he was in need of being banned from all possible venues because that’s just. This guy shows up at an attempted coup and its “cancel culture” to say you won’t support him anymore. I haven’t quite figured out the full equation, but it’s an interesting new area of study. Alternatively, conservatives are a bunch of whiny assholes who don’t think they should ever deal with consequences for things they say and do.
Yeah but there are also lots of not right wing nut bags pearl clutching about it, too.
Yeah…I’m afraid I have to acknowledge this is one of those instances when maybe “both sides do it” has some truth.
Here’s the one that really gets me – who’s actually gotten “canceled” (as in, had their career and livelihood impacted by online discourse) for anything that passes a reasonable-person definition of normal behavior?I really can’t think of one.
Yeah, it’s just shorthand for “I don’t like that this person I like is being criticized.”
This is all so dumb. I used to love his music but now he’s going to lose all his fans so people who unironically listen to kid rock can pretend to enjoy his music? He really shot himself in the foot.
He’ll be playing to crowds of Juggaloes before long.
I’d much rather hang with a gaggle of juggaloes than a single MAGA chud
Agreed, probably. The fa-mi-ly probably throws a better party, sure. And they’re anti-racist, at least nominally! But I also think that they’ll put anyone on stage if they absolutely had to. And once you’re out of other options, the Gathering is the festival you end up at.
Never met a juggalo that wasn’t pretty nice and I live in Wisconsin. A little dumb maybe but that is my perception.
I had no idea who this person was before today and would have liked it to stay that way
“before today” lol
I bet these chuds were feigning outrage about Shia intentionally giving fka twigs an STD…and now they’ll run to this asshole’s aid when he also intentionally gave his girlfriend an STD
Oh, man, I hadn’t heard about the awful, awful stuff that Shia allegedly did to FKA twigs. Hopefully, she can gain some measure of healing in time.I really love(d) Shia LeBeouf. Well, fuck him.
I rather like Ariel Pink’s stuff, and the fact that he’s a MAGA chud is disappointing, but it’s not a deal-breaker for me. There are plenty of awful people out there who’ve managed to make great art. Think supporting Trump is the worst of it? Ezra Pound was a flat-out fascist. So was W.B. Yeats, briefly. V.S. Naipaul was a legendarily grouchy super-conservative asshole, but he wrote some great novels. I don’t think they should be thrown out of the canon because of it, though. It sort of bothers me that lefties have decided that they’re done with this or that artist because they’ve revealed themselves to be awful conservatives. Shitty people make great art every day.
But there is such a thing as voting with your wallet, and I don’t think anybody gets to tell me how I spend my entertainment budget. What bothers me about the conservative side of this whole “cancel culture” debate is the assumption a lot of established conservative artists seem to have that OF COURSE you — and everyone else — would be buying their record if not for their political leanings and how unfair people are being about them. Excuse me? I wouldn’t accept an Eric Clapton record if they were handing them out free. I don’t care whether or not Ted Nugent thinks he’s a guitar god: the man sucks balls on record. You couldn’t pay me to listen to Kid Rock.The thing is that we’ve got so many tools to avoid contributing — directly or indirectly — to an artist’s bottom line that I don’t see why we should have to have this conversation. I got on torrents specifically to download Muslimgauze’s discography: I don’t want to be responsible for setting a car bomb off somewhere, and there’s no way that I’m actually paying for the hundred-or-so albums he put out, anyway. If you hate Trumpoids and still dig Ariel Pink, steal his record. Done and done. Consider it a political action taken out of necessity. Life’s too short to miss out on a great book or album because the person who created it happened to be a jerk.
It is always hilarious what these people will do because they think it makes liberals angry.
WHY DOES TUCKER CARLSON ALWAYS HAVE THAT LOOK ON HIS FACE SERIOUSLY GOD
guys i just moved out because of a roommate i didnt like. did i do a cancel?
Man, fuck this little prick. He talks about him and his family are getting deaths threats (which sounds laughable since who would waste energy to do that). Now ya know how the Squad and other Dems or liberals feel. Dickhead.