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Viet Cong issues statement about band name

You’ve probably never heard of postpunk band Viet Cong, but heaps of others have, and not in a good way.

Earlier this month, Viet Cong had received some backlash over their band name. It is said to be racist and offensive. As a result, one of their gigs at Dionysus Disco, scheduled for March 14th, was cancelled.

Now the band have released a statement in regards to the controversy behind their name:

Our band, Viet Cong, has existed for a little over three years now. When we named ourselves, we were naive about the history of a war in a country we knew very little about. We now better understand the weight behind the words Viet Cong. While we don’t take any concerns about the name lightly, we feel it is important to let you know that we never meant to trivialize the atrocities or violence that occurred on both sides of the Vietnam War. We never intended for our name to be provocative or hurtful.

We truly appreciate the seriousness of the feedback we’ve received, and we will continue to be open to listening to issues and concerns from all perspectives.

With love from the band Viet Cong.

This comes after Gang Of Four released a statement on the same issue, saying the controversy was “ridiculous” and “anti-progressive.” Guitarist Andy Gill said:

It’s a little ridiculous to ban bands for their name. We can all think of dozens of bands with really quite offensive names and as soon as you get into being the guardian of public morality, taking it upon yourself to decide what’s OK and what is not, you are acting in an illiberal, undemocratic and anti-progressive way. People should be treated as grown ups, capable of making their own decisions. We should not be deciding for people what we think they are capable of understanding or not. Artists; film-makers, writers, musicians need to be un-censored so they can make their point, political or otherwise.

What do you think? Offensive or just another wacky band name?