Gang of Four on Viet Cong Name Controversy: "Ridiculous", "Undemocratic", "Anti-Progressive"

Viet Cong were set to perform at the Oberlin College venue Dionysus Disco on March 14. However, the show was canceled because of the band’s name, which the venue’s promoter called “a name that deeply offends and hurts Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American communities.”

Now, Gang of Four—another band with a loaded political name—have issued a statement about the controversy to Brooklyn Vegan. Here’s guitarist Andy Gill:

It’s a little ridiculous to ban bands for their name. We can all think of dozens of bands with really quite offensive names and as soon as you get into being the guardian of public morality, taking it upon yourself to decide what’s OK and what is not, you are acting in an illiberal, undemocratic and anti-progressive way. People should be treated as grown ups, capable of making their own decisions. We should not be deciding for people what we think they are capable of understanding or not. Artists; film-makers, writers, musicians need to be un-censored so they can make their point, political or otherwise.

Gang of Four are named after a faction within the Chinese Communist Party that accumulated a large amount of influence during Mao Zedong’s reign, before ultimately being sentenced to prison.

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