Punk Rocker John Joseph on Outdoor Concert Backlash: If You Disagree ‘Stay the F**k Home, Watch CNN’

YouTube / HARD TRUTH with John Joseph
YouTube / HARD TRUTH with John Joseph

New York punk rocker John Joseph, from the bands Bloodclot and Cro-Mags, responded to backlash over a large punk show recently held in New York City, proclaiming that he “could give a fuck less” about those who disagree with the event, adding that critics should “stay the fuck home, watch CNN.”

Thousands of concertgoers packed into Tompkins Square Park for the show, which appeared to be the largest city-permitted concert in New York City since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report by Gothamist.

“The park was filled that day anyway,” John Joseph explained in a statement to PunkNews. “Anybody that knows Tompkins Square Park knows on a 70 degree sunny day there are huge crowds in there on a Saturday. We could not control how many people attended the show.”

Joseph added that the punk show was put on because, “we decided to take a stand and open back up our stages and our way of life.”

“Just because some of you don’t agree with it I could give a fuck less,” the punk rocker said. “Stay the fuck home, watch CNN and the rest. I never gave a shit what critics said in the 70s and 80s and I still don’t care.”

“Cancel culture can go fuck themselves,” Joseph continued. “They are the same ones who criticized punk rock in the 70s and hardcore in the 80s. And they will all go away soon to live out [their] quiet lives of desperation while we carry on what we’ve been doing for decades.”

Joseph also railed against the “metal and alternative press,” which he said “threw us under a fucking bus,” and “trusted the lying ass media,” instead of going directly to the band members to get their stories.

“Then the whole cancel culture shit ran with the story talking shit about each and every one of us who participated in the show,” Joseph said. “I don’t care about all you people that called it a super-spreader show and the rest of the bullshit you talked — there has not been one case of COVID reported.”

Joseph said reports claiming the show was put on using a permit that listed the event as a 9/11 memorial are “total and complete bullshit.”

“BLM had a table set up taking donations at the show and we fed over 400 people organic plant-based meals that day,” Joseph explained.

“We also raised well over $10,000 in donations for the fire department of New York’s burn center. Which they would not take because the media lied about the permit – that we used 911 as a smokescreen to get the permit from the park,” the rocker elaborated. “Who does a 911 event on April 24?”

Joseph included a purported image of the permit, along with his statement, which was posted to PunkNews. Black N’ Blue Productions hosted the outdoor concert, which featured the bands, Madball, Bloodclot, Murphy’s Law, Wisdom in Chains, and The Capturers, according to a report by PunkNews.

Joseph is not the only member of the punk rock movement to slam “cancel culture.”

Last week, Misfits founder Glenn Danzig said his band and “the punk explosion” could never happen today, because of “cancel culture and woke bullshit,” adding, “you won’t have any of those kinds of bands ever again,” because “everyone’s so uptight and P.C.”

Moreover, Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon — also known as Johnny Rotten — recently called “wokeness” a divisive political weapon being wielded by privileged, “tempestuous, spoilt children,” whom the media offer a platform to push their unpopular politically correct opinions.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.

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