Submission received in mid-late February 2025
Fascist musician Michale Graves has abandoned his planned Pittsburgh show after getting canceled from three different venues. Graves, a former singer with the post-Danzig Misfits, is a member of the Proud Boys and founder of the Conservative Punk website who participated in January 6. He originally planned to play at Sidequest, but they canceled his show after getting dozens of calls from antifascists and issued the following statement:“Many of you have reached out to us about the upcoming Michael Graves show and your concern about him being an open member of the proud boys and having values that go against what we value as a community. We booked that show through a promoter and were unaware of Grave’s affiliations. We have since contacted the promoter and canceled the show at our location. We apologize for our oversight in this booking and will work to prevent things like this happening in the future. We appreciate you as a community reaching out to us and want to continue to foster an atmosphere of safety and inclusion at Sidequest. We look forward to continue hosting shows with artists that share our values and hope to see you all again soon.”
Following the cancellation at Sidequest, CE Presents, Graves’ booking agency, attempted to move Graves to the Smiling Moose, but they too dropped the show after a flurry of calls. Both venues and CE Presents attempted to claim they didn’t know about Graves’ connections to the far right, but there is reason for skepticism. A commenter on Reddit reported hostility from a Smiling Moose employee when calling to complain about the show. CE Presents booked Graves’ last show in Pittsburgh, in 2023 at the Hard Rock Cafe. They also book Trapt, whose lead singer Chris Taylor Brown has a history of supporting pedophilia and parroting MAGA talking points.
Following the cancellation, Graves tweeted “And so the show in Pittsburgh, PA has been pulled from the 3rd venue now because of the “attacks” that have come online. I received an email to “stay out of town” How the hell am I supposed to fight this?”
Um, maybe by NOT being a fascist piece of shit? Just a suggestion…