As a result of the Ben Weasel SXSW incident, The Soviettes, Chinese Telephones and Teenage Bottlerocket have canceled their scheduled appearances at the impending Weasel Fest headlined by Screeching Weasel on May 27-29 at Reggie’s in Chicago, Ill.
Ben Weasel issued his apology for what happened.
“I want to apologize to both the club owner and audience member involved for my actions during our show at SXSW on Friday night. While their actions were outside of my control, my regretful reaction is wholly my responsibility. Whatever my feelings are about fans crossing the line like that, I wish I could have that moment back and deal with it in the same spirit as I did the preceding 60 minutes. Since I can’t, an apology is all I’ve got and I sincerely hope those people will accept it. Up front, I wish to say that I am sorry to the fan and any others who were involved. As a husband, father, and a musician on the public stage, I understand that it is my duty to always take responsibility for my actions in a socially acceptable way, and most especially in the face of confrontation.
I want to apologize to the San Antonio fans, also, for having to cancel that show. I hope we can make it up down the road. I’ve obviously already talked to my band about it but I also want to publicly apologize for putting them in a bad position, as well as my manager, booking agent, label, and the support bands. My actions were unprofessional and unfair to the people I work with.”
You can see The Soviettes’ statement on their MySpace page and Chinese Telephones’ statement on their website. Teenage Bottlerocket announced their decision via twitter.