NOFX's Fat Mike Under Fire for Tasteless Joke About Las Vegas Massacre

UPDATE: Stone Brewing, the San Diego brewery that produces NOFX’s “Punk in Drublic” beer and the music festival of the same name, announced Wednesday that it was severing ties with the band. In a statement to the Blast, a company representative wrote:

We at Stone Brewing are aware of NOFX’s insensitive and indefensible statements this past weekend. As a result, we are severing all our ties with NOFX, including festival sponsorship and the production of our collaboration beer.

Original Story:

“Fat” Mike Burkett, frontman for San Francisco punk band NOFX and co-founder of Fat Wreck Chords, is at the center of growing internet firestorm after he made a joke about the Las Vegas massacre during a concert Sunday.

After finishing a song during NOFX’s headlining set at the Punk Rock Bowling & Music festival in downtown Las Vegas, Burkett bantered about being shot for playing a song about Muslims. That lead into an offensive riff about country bands being shot while playing in Las Vegas — a reference to the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in October of last year that killed 58 people, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

“I mean that sucked, but at least they were country fans and not punk rock fans,” Burkett said. After the audience recoiled, he added, “Did I offend somebody? I can’t f**king believe it.”

A video of the exchange has since been shared by TMZ and other outlets, as well as by conservative pundits like Laura Loomer.

“NOFX thought it would be ‘hilarious’ to joke about the October 1 shootings while on stage in Las Vegas,” representatives from the Dave and Mahoney Morning Show, a Las Vegas radio program, posted on Facebook. “This is disgusting and callous. We will never support anything involving this band ever again.”

Fans of NOFX, meanwhile, have long known that being offensive is part of Burkett’s brand. No issue is off-limits for the band, be it racism or even bestiality (adults can search for the cover of NOFX’s Heavy Petting Zoo for an example).

“I’m scared of not offending anyone, that would be terrible,” Fat Mike said on the Going Off Track podcast in 2014. “Punk rock’s supposed to be offensive and make them think about stuff differently.”