NOFX Make Bad Jokes About Country Music Fest Fans That Got Shot

While performing at the Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival in Las Vegas Sunday, the band NOFX made comments about the mass shooting that took place in the city last October that many people in the audience found to be in poor taste.

Although the quartet — vocalist/bassist Fat Mike, guitarist/vocalist El Hefe, guitarist vocalist Eric Melvin, and drummer Erik Sandlin — often tell off-color jokes during live performances, this time it may have gone too far.

The insensitive stage banter can be heard in various videos from the concert taken by those in attendance, reported People.

Fat Mike started the crude rant by saying, “We played a song about Muslims and we didn’t get shot. Alright!”

Another member of the punk group then chimed in and stated, “I guess you only get shot in Vegas if you are in a country band.”

One of the other musicians then responded, “That [massacre] sucked, but at least they were country fans and not punk rock fans.”

Grumbling from the audience can be easily heard after each statement.

Vegas radio personalities Dave and Mahoney tweeted out a video featuring NOFX’s unfunny words. “This is disgusting and callous,” they said in the accompanying caption. “We will never support anything involving this band ever again.”

The organizers of the Punk Rock Bowling event, Mark and Shawn Stern, released a statement regarding the incident to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “In light of NOFX’s comments during their performance at the Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival, we would like to offer a formal apology to those in attendance, the city of Las Vegas, the victims and the families of 10/1,” they said.

“Las Vegas is home to the Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival, and we do not condone the statements made from our stage on Sunday night. We take the safety of our festivalgoers seriously and want to relay that there is nothing funny about people being shot and murdered, ever.”

The band was taking a tasteless dig at the Route 91 Harvest music festival and its fans, many of whom were killed or injured during a mass shooting on Oct. 1, 2017, after a sick individual fired more than 1,000 rounds from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Fifty-eight people who went out to have fun and see some artists live were killed, while several hundreds were hurt.

NOFX has released 13 studio albums since first making waves in the punk rock scene in the 1980s. While many fans of the band expressed their anger on social media (some even saying they will no longer listen to NOFX’s music), there is no word yet on how this incident will affect the band in the long run. Their next live show is scheduled for June 2 in Thornville, Ohio. The foursome are then slated to travel to Europe to perform throughout the month of June.