My Run-In With Cancel Culture

By Harry Robinson

Many of you who have been watching my work with Lotus Eaters will be aware that in my private life I perform in a fantasy power metal band on the local pub and venue scene. I would classify us as promising up-and-comers, having won the opportunity to play one of the leading metal festivals in the UK at the beginning of June. Everything has been looking up for a while now, and as our momentum has been building we’ve forged a good reputation, even developing a fanbase. 

Sadly, I have to announce as of Saturday 16th of July that I am no longer a part of this band. This is through no real choice of my own, or even a true choice made by my bandmates—it’s all because of my work with the Lotus Eaters. 

Allow me to explain. In October 2021, we were still independent, booking our own gigs and making our way on our own terms. We had been starting to make waves in England’s Northwest music scene, landing better gigs and gaining fans. But things were still a bit slow. This changed when we got the opportunity to sign up with a management company which could take over the administration of our social media and book gigs for us, negotiating better pay and better slots. Sounds like a good deal; and it was, for a while. Since signing with a manager, we have received better opportunities and on occasion have even been paid for our time and labour. But from the beginning, there was the issue of my work. We warned them beforehand that what I do is controversial, and they brushed it aside, saying that there wouldn't be an issue as long as I’m not a white supremacist. 

Until recently, that was about all the interest they took in my activities outside of the band, and it didn’t affect us because I made sure to keep my band life and work life as separate as possible, difficult as this was given some of my bandmates were eager for me to leverage my newfound public persona for band publicity. If I’m honest, I still felt uneasy—I knew the things I say are not exactly in vogue at the moment, and I preempted that there consequently may have been a time when I would have to leave the band due to my commitment to speaking the truth and sticking to my principles. I just didn’t expect this would be so soon.

This past Friday, I was told by my bandmates that we had pulled out of the gig we were booked to play on the Saturday and that there was a meeting about why. I immediately had reservations. Why hold a meeting rather than just tell me over message? It must have been something important, something that couldn’t be expressed over a group chat. So I came along to the meeting, steeling myself for what I knew was coming, only hoping that it wasn’t a decision made by my bandmates, my friends, and was instead out of their control. I was correct.

Our management, who had been so certain that unless I was a white supremacist there would be no problem with my beliefs and my work, had finally deigned to actually watch a segment or two of the podcast. Horrified that I take a hard-line anti-groomer stance, they called up the band, pulled us from the gig, and demanded I be fired. The only other choices were that I apologise for my beliefs and quit Lotus Eaters—Ha! Fat chance—or they would drop us as clients, which carried with it the implicit threat that they would tell everyone else in positions of influence; booking agents, management companies, possibly even record labels, to avoid us. It was mentioned that if the bookies of the festival we were booked to play at found out, then we would lose our slot. Essentially, it was for the band a choice between getting rid of me or being blacklisted, destroying all of the opportunities we made for ourselves and making the work we had done together over the last three years pointless. 

Understandably, although regrettably, the band made the only rational decision and informed me that we could no longer work together under the circumstances. I agreed to step away from the band amicably, not wanting to destroy what we’d built or potentially hurt my bandmates’ reputations through their continued association with me. It was not easy, but I knew it was necessary. Happily, they will not distance themselves from ever having been involved with me, and we remain friends. What has transpired is, as they say, just business.

My regret and sorrow that it has come to this is overwhelming, and I feel a deep pit of disgust at the fact that I have been pushed out for something completely separate from my work with the band, by people who had no hand in crafting the music and stories we made together. While I am not surprised, I am still angry. One of the most truly galling things is thinking that every month since last October I have been paying the fees for a man who eventually forced me out of my own band. How’s that for gratitude?

To my former bandmates, you are still my friends, and I wish you all the best in the future. I am sorry you were put in this position on my behalf. Hopefully, what we built together will not be in vain. To anyone who knows my former band, please do not heckle or harass them, the decision was out of their hands and was made under duress and implicit threats. I keep their names out of this to avoid any pushback against them and out of respect, I ask you to do the same. I would much prefer if you could support them, if only so that my work with them wasn’t meaningless. 

In the interests of remaining professional, I will not name the management company that pushed me out, if only to protect my bandmates from potential consequences. I extend no further graciousness to them, and wish them nothing but misfortune and ruin in the future, as it is no less than they deserve. If I were a more spiritual person, I would wish a curse upon them. At this point why not? A pox upon thee!

Ultimately, I still have utmost faith in the metal community. Since working for Lotus Eaters, gig-goers at our shows have recognised me and spoken to me about my work, which has never failed to be a pleasure. There is a commitment to authenticity within the metal community, and I pride myself on being authentic with my beliefs. Evidently, this does not apply to those in positions of power who, wielding their undeserved influence, are eager to exercise it in petty and vindictive ways that help to further their own personal beliefs and biases at the expense of others. Gatekeeping those with the wrong opinions is sadly one of the favourite pastimes of the progressives, and the institutions of local and national music scenes have been infiltrated with the same sickening ideology as so much else. Remember, it’s fine in metal to parade yourself in a shirt that says ‘Jesus is a C**t’, but it’s not okay to state simple biological facts. Because of these people, I have lost one of the great passions of my life. Not only that, but I have also lost my platform to express myself outside of politics—one that I sunk three years and who knows how much money into—and lost the connection I had with an amazing community.

This kind of low-level cancelling is far more common than is reported by the media. There are countless people who have lost far more than I have now and for far less. In some jobs, simply disagreeing with the political direction of the company or refusing to accept a piece of received wisdom is enough to have you cut off from your source of income, leaving many without the means to support their families. If you have a story you’d like to share along those lines, please leave it in the comments below and share it wherever you can. We must keep a record that this is happening.

In the end, this has only strengthened my conviction that what I am doing is the right thing. I have sacrificed too much to waver on my beliefs, especially now the communists and progressives controlling the key positions of power in localised music scenes have taken from me one of the most significant non-political outlets I had left.