Political confusion occurred during Araraquara Rock 2019.
The Araraquara Rock 2019 festival took place this Saturday, May 4th, and was closed by Torture Squad . A political commotion occurred during the band's show when the audience protested against President Jair Bolsonaro.
Then, drummer Amilcar Christófaro had said that "all politicians should sit on the devil's lap." This angered a member of the audience who began to curse and make obscene gestures, which led the musician to ask that he be removed from the show.
The following day, the website Diário Causa Operária published an article calling the band members fascists and Bolsonaro supporters. "The fascists Castor and Amílcar Cristófaro opposed the political demonstration at the show and did everything to suppress it. Therefore, they were heavily booed and, upon being called fascists, Bolsonaro supporters, and right-wingers, they stopped the show and threw a beer can in the face of Tiago Pires, a member of the Workers' Cause Party, who was watching the show and demonstrating in front of the stage," the text reads.
The band then released an official statement about what happened, which can be read below:
No one in Torture Squad is a fascist, Bolsonaro supporter, right-winger, etc., as described by the author of the note, who did not identify himself (at least the journalist's name was not found); on the contrary… The political and life stance of the band members has nothing to do with fascism or with anyone who supports that kind of idea.
It's also unsettling to see a media outlet publish a story with serious accusations, without any statements from those involved, without speaking to anyone in the band, without conducting any kind of investigation, and yet still publish it, knowing that the news will snowball with people sharing it on social media, etc... Sad... anyway...
To get straight to the point, what basically happened was that, at a certain point in the show, the audience chanted slogans both for and against politicians, and the band did not censor them. And as our songs state, we don't defend or have preferred politicians; according to the band, the history of Brazilian politics itself is to blame for this, for not building trust, but rather the opposite, helping to destroy any kind of belief in modern-day Brazilian politicians.
"The real intention of what I said yesterday at the show was to show that it was a moment to celebrate music, not politics, which we already experience so much in our daily lives. That the show was a moment to escape a little from this harsh reality of Brazilian politics to have fun and energize ourselves with the art of music. It's true that I went too far when I said I wanted all politicians to die. Of course, it was the heat of the moment, it's harsh, and I'm generalizing, it's wrong, and I apologize for that, especially since I'm not one to generalize, but I'm clearly talking about dishonest and corrupt politicians who have been screwing up our lives for a long time, that's what it is. But unfortunately, that's not how one of the protesters interpreted the message, and I really don't know why he felt so offended because we clearly want the same for our country, which is the good of the nation," said Amilcar Christófaro a day after the incident.
Annoyed, during the remainder of the show, the protester went from any political demonstration to a disrespectful display, swearing and making obscene gestures at the drummer. It was after this moment that Amilcar asked for the protester to be removed by the local security guards. This did not happen, but even so, with everything seemingly calmed down, the band continued the show.
Regarding the accusation that Torture Squad tried to silence that person, it's a lie. As we said, the drummer only asked for the protester to be removed by security because his protests were no longer for or against politicians, but rather involved disrespect, provocations, and insults directed at drummer Amilcar Christófaro and bassist Castor.
Contrary to what the website says, the entire audience stayed with the band until the end of the show, so much so that Amilcar asked into the microphone, 'Are you here for politics or for the music?', and the response was the audience shouting MUSIC so loudly in unison that it was quite moving.
It's a shame that a website writes and says whatever it wants, defaming good people like us at Torture Squad. We've worked hard our whole lives, always with humility, integrity, and honesty, without trying to take advantage of or step over anyone, and slander like this won't derail us. You can be sure of that.
Bearing in mind that we are living through a delicate moment in which tempers are running high in the country, and that misunderstanding and violence often emerge from people, we ask for calm and caution from everyone when discussing politics.
"Know that we learned a lot from this episode as well, and we sincerely apologize to everyone who was at the event, to the promoters, the bands, and especially to the TS fans who, as always, were there out of love for the band, demonstrating all their affection and devotion to our music, and who had to endure this moment of discomfort and overwhelmingly negative energy. Our sincerest apologies. This will not happen again. You definitely don't deserve this. We love you from the bottom of our hearts."