'We broke up with him first:' Dropkick Murphys deny X suspension after denouncing MAGA gear
Massachusetts-based Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys says they were not suspended on X after frontman Ken Casey called out a fan for wearing "Make America Great Again" merchandise at a weekend show.
Casey, Dropkick Murphys founder and lead vocalist, had some choice words about MAGA hats after he spotted a fan wearing a white one at a sold-out show in Boston on Saturday night.
"The Chinese (expletive) red that they all wear, and I think it's dyeing their brains. Ya got the black-on-black Elon Musk, true Nazi edition. And then my man here is getting ready for summer with a nice (expletive) white white one," Casey says in a clip reposted to YouTube.
Casey went on to say that he admired the man's "dedication," asking the audience: "If you're in a room full of people and you want to know who's in a cult, how do you know who's in a cult? They've been holding up a (expletive) hat the whole night to represent a president."
"This is America, there's no kings here," Casey yelled to a cheering crowd.
Various media outlets reported that the Dropkick Murphys account was suspended on X following the interaction between Casey and the fan.
The Dropkick Murphy X account currently says it was suspended for violating X rules, but the band says they have been off X, formerly Twitter, since 2022. The exact details and the timing surrounding the band's suspension were not immediately available.
"We broke up with him first. We quit Twitter in 2022 when he was only half a Nazi," Casey said in Tuesday statement.
'He would have suspended us by now,' band says
Someone else, unaffiliated with the band, later took band's X handle and pretended to be "our official account," Casey said.
"So we filed a legal complaint to put a stop to that—which is why @dropkickmurphys shows as suspended," Casey said. "Look, we pulled our account because we didn't want to be part of that guy's empire. But if we were still on there, I'm sure he would have suspended us by now.'
An X spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY that the information shared by Dropkick Murphys on Tuesday afternoon was accurate.
Dropkick Murphys, who have been vocal about their disdain for President Donald Trump, also called out another fan sporting MAGA hat at a show in Clearwater, Florida on March 8, according to a fan video shared by the band.
"The reason we speak out, we don't care if we lose fans because when history is said and done, we want it known that the Dropkick Murphys stood with the people," Casey said in the video. "We stood with the workers. It's all a (expletive) scam, guys.'
Casey also noted that the band 'always sells proudly made in America merchandise only." Official MAGA merchandise is American made, but unofficial vendors make them elsewhere, USA TODAY reported in 2020.
Contributing: Chris Jordan, Asbury Park Press part of the USA TODAY Network
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