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Music

Third Eye Blind MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN by Trolling the RNC

“You can boo all you want, but I’m the motherfucking artist up here.”

It was kind of a bummer to see Third Eye Blind listed on the program for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week, playing a show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame sponsored by AT&T and Comcast. Why would they agree to such a thing? Are they secret ultra-conservative artists like Ted Nugent and uh… uh… (come back to us for another example). But then last night, the band went and pulled one on over the MAKE AMERICA GREATERS with some pretty epic trolling.

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In addition to playing a setlist of the band’s most obscure songs, frontman Stephan Jenkins spent time bashing the GOP platform, speaking out in support of gay rights. “To love this song is to take into your heart and to take in the message, and to actually actually have a feeling to arive and move forward and not live your life in fear and imposing that fear on other people," he said.

Third Eye Blind tonite at #RNCinCLE event: We believe in tolerance, acceptance(Followed by boos) pic.twitter.com/WPRIEMZmEp

— Tina (@tinpant) July 20, 2016

According to Yahoo News, Jenkins also asked the crowd, “Who here believes in science?” When the audience started jeering and throwing out boos, Jenkins told them, “You can boo all you want, but I’m the motherfucking artist up here.”

.@ThirdEyeBlind trolls #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/zXIKWdO5Hj

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly)

July 20, 2016

Afterwards, some RNC-goers expressed their disappointment on social media, to which the band had a concise response:

@LWhiteGRLprob good

— Third Eye Blind (@ThirdEyeBlind) July 20, 2016

So to Stephan Jenkins and Third Eye Blind, we say: Thank you for MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.

UPDATE: Third Eye Blind has issued a statement

We did not play an RNC event. We performed at a benefit for Musicians on Call because we support their mission in bringing music to the bedsides of patients in hospitals.

Given that the benefit was held in Cleveland, we suspected that convention types might show up and we let it be known we were there to support Musicians on Call and that we in fact repudiate every last stitch of the RNC platform and the grotesque that is their nominee.

--Science is science.
--Coal is not clean.
--Black Lives Matter.
--LGBTQ = equal.
--Separation of church and state (still a good idea) We could go on. We have Republican friends, family members, and fans, and we love them all. What we reject is what their party has come to stand for. But in keeping with Musicians on Call's message, we believe in the gathering power of music. With that spirit we don't step back from our audience wherever or whomever they are. Warmly, your friends in 3eb.