Currently touring North America with Revenge, Swedish extreme metal act SHINING will not be performing as scheduled tomorrow at Tonic Lounge in Portland, OR. The venue has cancelled the show, citing alleged behavior by vocalist Niklas Kvarforth that includes “racist and homophobic slurs” and “groping women.” Toxic Lounge issued the following explanation:
“Tonic Lounge has decided to cancel the Shining show that was scheduled for this Wednesday, May 17th. All tickets will be refunded. We regret having not researched this band more before approving their show. After booking them, it was brought to our attention that Shining’s singer has done and said many things that could be considered offensive, dangerous, or destructive.
“While we were learning about and considering these issues, the list continued to grow, including a recent report that the he may have been involved in the drugging of someone’s drink. This morning we received a call from a trusted friend in Boise Idaho, detailing the events that took place while Shining were there on Sunday. We were told that the singer of Shining went to the local punk bar Mulligans before their concert, and was groping women and threatening to stab employees, and had to be removed. We were also told that later, while performing at The Shredder, he used many blatant racist and homophobic slurs on stage, threatened audience members with rape, slapped audience members in the face, and was sieg heil saluting repeatedly throughout their performance.
“Sometimes words and allegations on the internet can be difficult to navigate, but a story like this coming from a friend is not. The above types of behavior are simply not acceptable at Tonic Lounge. This isn’t about censorship. This is about protecting our venue, our staff, and our patrons. This decision was not made under pressure by any individuals or political groups. We believe in freedom of expression and are not quick to pull the plug on any band booked at our club. However, we are not going to invite someone into our space to spout hate speech on our stage, and/or put our staff and patrons in harm’s way. We are still in full support of Famine Fest Presents, the other bands who were on the bill, and all of our friends and customers who planned on attending. We hope you all can respect our decision to do what’s best for our club and those within it.”
Meanwhile, the following video purports to show Kvarforth attempting to fight someone outside The Shredder. View HERE.
Source: Lambgoat
https://www.facebook.com/shiningofficial/
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