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Artist News
Viet Cong address criticism of name
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 18 March 2015
The band Viet Cong have issued a statement addressing recent criticism of their chosen name. Earlier this month, a performance by the band at Oberlin College in Ohio was cancelled following complaints about the moniker.
Promoter Ivan Krasnov said in a statement at the time: “I would first and foremost like to apologise on both my and my booking organisation’s behalf for inviting a band with a name that deeply offends and hurts Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American communities, both in Oberlin and beyond. I acknowledge the problematic nature of a band naming themselves ‘Viet Cong’ and extend my apology to anyone hurt or made uncomfortable by the name and its connotations”.
Anger at the name had seemingly arisen in part due to flippant comments about the real Viet Cong made by the band in interviews, they stylising the one-time political and military movement on one occasion as “badasses in movies”.
But in a statement published by Pitchfork, the band said yesterday: “Our band, Viet Cong, has existed for a little over three years now. When we named ourselves, we were naive about the history of a war in a country we knew very little about. We now better understand the weight behind the words Viet Cong. While we don’t take any concerns about the name lightly, we feel it is important to let you know that we never meant to trivialise the atrocities or violence that occurred on both sides of the Vietnam War. We never intended for our name to be provocative or hurtful”.
They added: “We truly appreciate the seriousness of the feedback we’ve received, and we will continue to be open to listening to issues and concerns from all perspectives”.
Those hoping that they would just choose a new name, however, will seemingly be disappointed.
