Whirr wasn't even on my radar until this morning. I saw a few 'Hard Times' posts about the band but didn't note it as anything important. I finally caught myself up, and found that this is a really great example of exactly what should be happening in our music industry. According to Pitchfork:
"Last night, the Bay Area band Whirr posted a series of negative tweets about G.L.O.S.S., a punk band whose lead singer is a transgender woman. (The tweets have since been deleted, but an archive can be found at Stereogum.) Among other things, they tweeted, 'g.l.o.s.s. Is just a bunch of boys running around in panties making shitty music,' and compared G.L.O.S.S. to the Buffalo Bill character from The Silence of The Lambs."
Below are some screenshots of Whirr's other tweets.
G.L.O.S.S. responded with a few scathing tweets:
Graveface Records and Run For Cover Records both responded quickly and without hesitation:
Whirr posted this statement to Twitter:
— Whirr (@free_whirl) October 20, 2015
When asked if RFC had changed their minds since Whirr's apology, they said:
"Frankly, no, it doesn’t change anything. We were aware of the information in Whirr’s statement when we made the decision. Although the band is not signed to our label, and never have been, we have decided to not work with them in the future, and stop selling their releases we did have a hand in. Also, despite being at a financial net loss with Whirr and Camera Shy, we will be donating $3,000 to a TBA non profit in support of equal rights for LGBTQ.
This instance is really important. Whirr's transphobic behavior was not tolerated and there were quick, real consequences. And not only did record labels respond mercilessly, but the general public was also outraged.
Coming together as a community and making it clear that this type of behavior is unacceptable was really amazing and sets a great example of how these incidents should be handled. We should all applaud Run For Cover Records and Graveface Records and let Whirr serve as the example we should all strive to not follow.
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