Brock Turner: Female Drummer Of Band Defends Stanford Rapist, Good English Group Loses Gigs
An all-girl band was cut from several upcoming music gigs when one of the members defended Brock Turner, the convicted Stanford rapist.
Fox News reports that a Brooklyn music festival cut Good English from its lineup when it learned that the drummer — a childhood friend of the convicted Stanford University sex attacker — sent a letter to the California judge in Turner’s defense.
The Northside Festival posted on its Facebook page Tuesday that the Ohio-based band axed the group from its entertainment lineup. It reads that “Due to recent information brought to our attention, Good English is no longer playing Northside Festival.”
Friend who wrote letter defending Brock Turner is being dropped from all upcoming gigs: https://t.co/zSudJmA7On pic.twitter.com/f42SlXjvWU
— ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) June 9, 2016
Leslie Rasmussen, a drummer for the three-sister rock band, wrote a letter to Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky defending Brock Turner. The ex-Stanford swimmer was convicted of rape after sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster in January, 2015. He cited the reason for his conviction on political correctness.
Rasmussen began in her letter defending Brock Turner: “I don’t think it’s fair to base the fate of the next ten + years of his life on the decision of a girl who doesn’t remember anything but the amount she drank to press charges against him.”
Rasmussen called Turner “innocent” in her message to the judge.
“I am not blaming her directly for this, because that isn’t right,” Rasmussen continued. “But where do we draw the line and stop worrying about being politically correct every second of the day and see that rape on campuses isn’t always because people are rapists.”
The Good English drummer added in her letter that Brock’s case is “completely different” from a woman who gets “kidnapped and raped as she is walking to her car in a parking lot” — defining that individual as a “rapist.” She wrote that men who do what Brock did “are not rapists.” She refers to the whole situation as “idiot boys and girls having too much to drink and not being aware of their surroundings and having clouded judgment.”
Rasmussen views the case as a “huge misunderstanding.”
Elle had the conclusion of Rasmussen’s letter by revealing that “Brock Turner was tried and rightfully convicted of sexual assault,” and that his “crime caused enormous pain for the victim,” but that alcohol is what’s really to blame in this regard. The drummer added that Turner’s “character was seriously affected by the alcohol he consumed” and that she thinks “the court needed to consider this issue during their sentencing deliberations.”
Brock Turner was found guilty on three felony sexual assault counts for the attack.
Indie band Good English has had shows cancelled over their drummer’s defense of Brock Turner https://t.co/c1eEpYN583
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) June 9, 2016
As the report notes, several were outraged at Good English before Northside Festival announced it was pulling the band from its roster of music.
“Leslie Rasmussen is in a band called Good English and are playing a string of shows soon. Please don’t support them,” wrote one Twitter user.
A Facebook user directed anger at the festival for featuring the band by writing “you profile yourself as ‘a stage for [..] thought-leaders’ and as an encouragement to ‘think outside the box’. Step up your game and show what kind of ‘out-of-the-box’ you do and do not support. Don’t let Good English play.”
Northside Festival listened and yanked Good English from the event.
Users rallied behind the festival for making that decision. Five Brooklyn venues were set to host Good English this weekend.
“Good move guys, thanks for protecting the women of New York,” wrote one woman on the festival’s Facebook page.
Do you agree with the festival pulling Good English after its drummer penned a letter to the judge defending Brock Turner?
[Photo by Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office/AP Photo]
