Bands leave Metal Fest after Kyle Rittenhouse is announced as special guest

Several bands have dropped the bill for a metal festival taking place in Orlando later this month after it was announced that Kenosha protest shooter Kyle Rittenhouse would be a special guest.

The exodus from Shell Shock II — a charity festival that raises money and awareness for veterans and first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder — began earlier this week, starting with festival headliners Evergreen Terrace. According to Loudwire, several other bands followed, including Southpaw, Let Me Bleed and American Hollow.

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According to a now-deleted post shared on Reddit, Rittenhouse was revealed on social media as a Shell Shock II guest. The post included a photo of Rittenhouse at the 2020 racial injustice protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he shot three people, killing two (Rittenhouse was acquitted of murder charges in 2021). In the photo, Rittenhouse holds a gun in one hand and raises the other; The headline reads: “Raise your hands if you (sic) be at Shell Shock.”

In a statement shared on Facebook, Evergreen Terrace explained its decision to abandon the festival: “Evergreen Terrace has always supported and will continue to support philanthropic events for veterans, education about post-traumatic stress disorder, child poverty and more, but we will not be joining any event .” Advertising an alleged murderer like Kyle Rittenhouse capitalizing on his pseudo-fame… Even after they offered to pull Kyle from the event, we discovered several entities associated with it that we simply disagreed with. As advocates of free expression, we are canceling the Shell Shock Festival out of respect. We will personally make a contribution to a veterans charity and urge you to do the same.”

Southpaw said in their statement that they agreed to perform at the fest knowing it was to raise money for a good cause, “but were unaware that a particular individual was at the center of supporting the show until they agreed… That’s just not what we do.” logged in. Period.”

And Let Me Bleed said: “Although we are proponents of free speech, we are not a political band overall. It was only after we agreed to perform at the festival that these problematic and potentially alienating entities were used to market the show and we simply cannot tolerate that.”

Shell Shock II is still scheduled to take place on October 19th, and after big-name artists dropped out, festival organizers have booked a Slipknot tribute band called SiC.

On Instagram, Shell Shock founder and CEO Tyler Hoover dismissed the bands who wanted to quit the festival and those who criticized it, saying: “I'm here to tell you: you're not punk, you are not hardcore.” You people, the people who troll and the people who talk shit, you are the mentally ill part of society. You are the ones being manipulated.”

He added: “The lynch mob that is here to take down Shell Shock will not win. It doesn't matter because guess what? You can't kill spirit. You can't kill punk. And you sure as hell can’t kill Shell Shock.”

It's unclear what exactly Rittenhouse will be doing at Shell Shock or if he'll just be there. In a statement shared with USA todayHoover said the festival “will not turn away anyone who wishes to attend; Everyone is welcome.” He continued: “We do not discriminate. Shell Shock is a PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) charity and awareness event to support our military veterans and first responders. Many influencers reached out to us asking for their support, one of which was Kyle Rittenhouse.”

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