US shoegaze band Whirr have been dropped by their record label following a series of transphobic tweets about post punk band G.L.O.S.S., whose lead singer is a transgender woman.
As Noisey reports, The tweets have since been deleted, but included comments such as “g.l.o.s.s. Is just a bunch of boys running around in panties making shitty music”. Following the rant which drew widespread criticism across Twitter, the record labels Run For Cover and Graveface cut off all ties with Whirr. Following the deletion of the tweets, the band’s Nick Bassett posted a statement through Twitter in which he claimed the tweets were posted by “a friend” who had taken control of the band’s account. “The comments made last night do not reflect any member’s personal views,” he wrote.
Record label Graveface followed up the statement with their own comment, writing on Facebook: "There are no contracts at Graveface so there’s no booting anyone off. Simply enough I will not be releasing records by anyone I know to be hateful, especially in regards to all of this. Cheers.” Addressing Bassett’s statement, Run For Cover said: “Frankly, no, it doesn’t change anything. We were aware of the information in Whirr’s statement when we made the decision. Although the band is not signed to our label, and never have been, we have decided to not work with them in the future, and stop selling their releases we did have a hand in. Also, despite being at a financial net loss with Whirr and Camera Shy, we will be donating $3,000 to a TBA non profit in support of equal rights for LGBTQ.”
