Nicholas Miller, an electronic dance music (EDM) DJ who goes by the stage name “Illenium,” apologized Monday for playing a popular song by an artist who faces trial over allegations of sexual assault.
“why did illenium play nice and easy by b*ssnectar at ember shores,” wrote one user on Twitter who axed the “a” from “Bassnectar” to erase the artist facing charges.
Illenium wrote back.
“I apologize guys. I honestly didn’t know it was a BN song. I’m deleting it from my library,” the DJ said. “It was insensitive of me to not pay closer attention to detail. Lesson learned.”
I apologize guys. I honestly didn’t know it was a BN song. I’m deleting it from my library. It was insensitive of me to not pay closer attention to detail. Lesson learned. https://t.co/bsYIuir9Yx
— ILLENIUM (@ILLENIUM) December 5, 2021
“EDM Twitter” began to trend in Twitter’s category on music after users complained over the DJ’s setlist pick, deemed sour by association, playing in Cancun, Mexico at Illenium’s three-day festival. While some were self-righteously offended by the song selection, many came to Illenium’s defense with criticism of the overly-sensitive online EDM community saturated with aggressive wokeness.
YOU GUYS ARE REEEEEEALLY TRYING TO COME AFTER @ILLENIUM ?!!!
Cancel culture has to be the STUUUUUUUPIDEST thing ever. 😂😂
EDM Twitter has reeeeally gone down the drain. Keep your negative vibes.✨ pic.twitter.com/1kbCRcdckd
— E l l i e🧝🏻♀️✨ (@LizzyLizz_xo) December 6, 2021
Illenium accidentally played one bassnectar and edm Twitter is now trying to cancel him that’s rough
— son dimitrescu 🧛🏿 (@sorryimjorge) December 6, 2021
The apology-prompting outcry doesn’t just expose the disproportionate power online leftists wield with internet activism, considering video footage reveals no such outrage in person but instead an enthusiastic crowd. It also pulls back the curtain on the insanity of the culture’s direction.
Artists are inevitably going to do terrible things, but to what degree does it warrant canceling the legacy of their work? It doesn’t.
Bassnectar, whose real name is Lorin Ashton, announced an indefinite hiatus from music last year after a series of women came forward with allegations of sex trafficking. Ashton, a group of women claim in a lawsuit filed in April and amended this summer, seduced them when they were minors while in his 30s. Now 43, Ashton has denied the accusations through his attorneys, calling them “demonstrably false.”
While any truth behind the allegations will ultimately be settled in court, Ashton’s guilt was already predetermined among the EDM community.
Guilty or not, the artist’s cancellation to the degree of erasing his more than a decade of music is a bridge too far. Are those who are offended by Illenium playing a Bassnectar track similarly offended by Hulu streaming “Good Will Hunting,” produced by Harvey Weinstein? Will they demand Netflix pull “House of Cards” starring Kevin Spacey? Can Americans still listen to Michael Jackson? Should we stop watching Woody Allen and Roman Polanski?
Examining the morality of each player in pop culture — let alone before guilt or innocence is conclusively determined — is not only exhausting, but it’s also a pointless waste of endless virtue signaling.
Source: The Federalist
