Southpaw FLHC have issued a formal response to the recent allegations of Nazism made against the band. Much of the brunt of controversy surrounding the group this month came about from resurfaced pictures of their drummer Harrison Linder wearing/promoting clothing from Curb Stomp Manufacturing — a brand who have been targeted by the Anti-Defamation League for selling Nazi-related imagery and messaging.
While those allegations of Nazism against the band began to surface earlier in the year, they most recently surfaced online again, leading to a wave of cancellations of the band’s touring plans. Numerous artists, including Resistor, Resist LA and Arcline all dropped their planned spots on Southpaw FLHC‘s immediate touring. Various promoters and venues also scrapped the band’s shows, leading to the cancelations of the band’s two tours.
Southpaw FLHC issued a brief denial of the Nazism allegations made against them yesterday, August 08th in the comments of a social media post, and have now issued the below response. First speaking in a text caption, the group offered:
“A message to all.
We want to address the situation diretly.
We are taking this seriously. We are reviewing the merchandise, affiliations, and circumstances surrounding the imagery in question, and we will not promote or wear imagery that represents or supports those ideologies.
We aren’t asking anyone to blindly accept our word. We’ll demonstrate where we stand through our actions moving forward.
Southpaw has always been about overcoming adversity, bringing people together, and making music for everybody. That’s the standard we intend to hold ourselves to.
Southpaw FLHC is not a Nazi band, and we reject Nazism, white supremacy, antisemitism, and every form of racial hatred.
At the same time, we understand why people were disturbed by imagery and merchandise associated with Nazi/fascist ideology. Regardless of intent, wearing or promoting imagery connected to those movements was irresponsible, and we understand the impact that it has had on people in our community.
Thank you for reading and watching.”
The included video statement went on to offer [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“All right, what’s up, y’all? First and foremost, let me just say this: we are not racist, nor are we transphobic, nor homophobic. If we were a racist band, why would we have somebody interracial in our band to begin with? Probably about 5, 6 months, I think, we were in the studio, and our drummer here, Harrison, was wearing a shirt that was sent to him by Curb Stomp, which is a clothing line — To put it quite simply, he was uneducated on the fact of what it actually meant, and stood for, we simply removed the photo.
It wasn’t to tuck our tail or run from any kind of problem. It was a respect thing. And now it’s being brought up months and months later. The situation was addressed. My man was unaware of what he was wearing. It was a simple mistake.
We respect your position, but I’m going to make it very clear. As I said, once again: not a single person in this band is a racist, and we stand on that. We don’t stand with racism. We don’t stand behind racism.
Not a single bit of our lyrics stand for any of that, nor do they stand for anything in regards to being homophobic or transphobic. Southpaw is about unity, mental, and physical strength, and is for all walks of life. Doesn’t matter if you’re gay, doesn’t matter if you’re straight, Black, white, Hispanic. It is for everyone. Southpaw never has been, nor will we ever be, a politically driven band.
We respect all opinions, but I’ll just say this: whatever narrative you’re running with, you’re free to do so, but this is our message to let you know that that’s not what we stand behind, and that’s not what we stand for, nor is it who we are.
The tours have been canceled effective immediately. We could care less about making the money. We do this for the culture of hardcore, and for the love of this game and because it’s who we are. So to the bands that have dropped off of all the bills with our names attached to it and the venues that have chosen to separate themselves, understandably so. We hope this finds you well. We will be back. We will remain stronger than ever. Last but not least, this is a call to all of our true fans that have stood with us since the very, very beginning and found us along the way. We appreciate you for your support.
Thank you for y’all’s time, because we ain’t going nowhere. Thank you.”
Thus far, the band’s label Spinefarm Records, who issued the group’s debut album “The Standard” this past July, have yet to comment on the matter.
