NOFX Drops Out As Headliner For Punk Rock Bowling Festival After Joke About Shooting

The band NOFX announced on Monday that they would no longer be headlining at the Punk Rock Bowling festival this year. The reason they cited was continued fallout from an insensitive joke the band made in 2018 about the 2017 Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival. The Descendants will replace them as headliners.

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After the incident in 2018, the band apologized, saying, “What we said in Vegas was shitty and insensitive and we are all embarrassed by our remarks. So we decided we will all get together to discuss and write an in depth, sincere, and honest apology because that’s what the people we offended and hurt deserve.”

In 2019, the band released a song called “Fish In A Barrell” and all the proceeds benefitted the gun control advocacy group, Moms Demand Action.

Singer Fat Mike released a statement on behalf of the band, explaining their decision.

“I’ve been playing and bowling at Punk Rock Bowling since the very first one when there were only 22 teams. PRB is my favorite time of the year. Like so many of you, I not only get to see my favorite bands, but I also get to see my punk friends from high school. This event is my reunion, it’s my convention, and it’s my church… I was so fucking excited to play it this year… but sadly we are not going to. NOFX had a meeting this week and decided we shouldn’t play out of respect that wounds are still healing,” he wrote.

Fat Mike said the band received a lot of hate messages and threats after announcing that they were headlining. He acknowledged that their comments caused the hate.

“Sorry to everyone that wanted to see us. It’ll have to be in a different city. Hopefully we can see you all in Vegas when the time’s right. But not Everything Sucks, I talked to Milo yesterday… And he’s comin! Decendents are taking our spot! It’s pretty fucking cool that we are being replaced by a better band! I wish I could be there to see ’em. Actually very sincere, Fat Mike and NOFX,” the statement finished.

Circle Jerks and Devo are scheduled to headline days two and three, respectively, of the festival. The rest of the bill includes Streetlight Manifesto, Leftover Crack, Gorilla Biscuits, Lunachicks, Murder City Devils and All, among others.