New Developments In Disney Censorship

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Posted by Erin DeWitt in politics

September 18, 2007 6:07 PM

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Anaheim’s House Of Blues cancellation of the Machine Head show earlier this month was just the beginning in Disney’s slow and steady elimination of all things metal.

Immediately after the cancellation, Machine Head released a statement citing the venue’s reasons for canceling the show (with just a 48 hour notice) as “undesirable fans” and “offensive lyrics”. Within days, Orlando’s House Of Blues, also on Disney property, dropped the band’s Sept. 17 date.

Rumors started to swirl that Disney had heavily pressured and even threatened Live Nation (the promoter who owns the House Of Blues chain) to eliminate the show even though it meant the venue would be dark that night.

Disgruntled Anaheim HOB employees blamed new Talent Buyer Todd Miller, who handles all of the in-house booking, as the cause of the first cancellation. However, once the 2nd cancellation occurred across the country, it was obvious the decision came from higher up.

Miller, who had only started 2 weeks earlier, had no comment and suggested statements be obtained from Live Nation VP of Communications John Vlautin.

Vlautin had (surprise, surprise) no comment either.

“Most Machine Head fans are in their mid-40s,” says one HOB employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, “To call them undesirable is ridiculous. Most of them are sitting down for concerts nowadays.”

As for the so-called ‘offensive lyrics’? “The hypocrisy is that Snoop Dogg just played [at Anaheim’s HOB]. They cited offensive lyrics, but looking at Snoop’s lyrics? Boy, there’s no comparison.” He says, “It’s censorship in the worst way. Disney has this God complex. Not even Anaheim Police are allowed to drive through the parking lot unless they’re called.”

But Machine Head wasn’t the only one in Disney’s cross hairs.

Other bands whose shows were then moved or canceled include Cannibal Corpse, Avenged Sevenfold, Hank III, Nashville Pussy, Cradle Of Filth and Amon Amarth.

Interestingly, the concerts of Against Me, Underoath, Soasin and other more fashionable, emo-tinged bands are still scheduled as planned.

“It was probably done arbitrarily,” guesses Dave Brooks of Venues Today magazine, “like an executive sitting in an office somewhere looking at the names of these bands, you have to wonder if they even listened to the music.”

In the past, House Of Blues has always been a friend to up and coming bands looking for a place to start out. “It’s no secret the way House Of Blues works,” says Brooks, “New bands start here and develop, then go on to play bigger Live Nation venues.” Other Live nation venues include Verizon Amphitheater and Universal Amphitheater. “By telling these metal bands they cant play House Of Blues, basically they’re cutting off the development of these bands. [Live Nation] is letting Disney not only cancel these shows but have a voice in the overall growth of the bands.”

“However, we don’t really know what Disney’s contract is with Live Nation and House Of Blues. There might be something in there saying [Disney] can yank shows,” Brooks suggests, “but it’s kind of sad that Live Nation is letting another company censor their artists.”

Comments (10)

Jaime says:
September 19, 2007 09:28

Something like this should be in the paper!!!!!

Marco says:
September 20, 2007 07:41

Fuck disney

Chris says:
September 20, 2007 13:17

Fuckin Disney Sucks!!!!

richard renshaw says:
September 21, 2007 05:35

How few weeks ago Sham 69 was pulled from HOB anaheim line up. I have rumors that all punk rock bands are being pulled from hob anaheim line up. The reason I heard was anaheim police feared a roits.

John says:
September 21, 2007 08:31

Give me a break! You three that made comments need to get over yourselves and your liberal self centered thinking. As well as the author of this article.

I love rock as much as much as anyone...but the fact is THIS IS DOWNTOWN DISNEY! A place for kids and families! I dont blame them for not wanting the families strolling around downtown disney after a day at the park to have to manuever around a long line of degenerate youth with eye makeup, spiked hair, and girl jeans!

Disney is a symbol...they have every right to protect it! You folks want to have all the rights for yourselves and be able to do as you please while taking rights away from others to protect and shield as they please! GET A CLUE!

Kate the Great says:
September 21, 2007 16:54

Typical Disney. I've heard They go as far as excluding the media from broadcasting negative news in Anaheim.

machinehead says:
September 21, 2007 18:31

hey john,i have been going to the house of blues for years ,and eveytime i go i see plenty of hot semi naked chicks walkin around goin to the clubs.i bet you dont complain about that when it comes to the family crap,YOU DOUCHEBAG.

Anonymous says:
September 22, 2007 12:07

actually, all the anahiem hookers know that the disney "rockwalk" is prime trolling for potential tricks...

Anonymous says:
September 22, 2007 22:21

It is not just metal shows. Disney is forcing HOB to cancel and/or move other shows as well. Trust me, family environment has nothing to do with it. Certain people in Disney think they are better then people. Cancel some metal shows and make Disney more family friendly, but keep your Gay Days schedule on track - losing money makes a difference in the idea of what is acceptable for a family environment.

Kim says:
September 23, 2007 01:37

John, you are obviously brain washed by the Republican Reich! Disney censors bands, Fox censors the Emmy's broadcast, our newspapers are censored every day so the American public doesn't see that their Constitutional rights are being abolished every day; Habeas Corpus? Who needs it? We ALL do! Especially when a president can determine who is an enemy combatant and I figure he'd easily like to determine that anyone who complains about our freedoms and rights being assaulted, as well as speaking out against blatant censorship such as what Disney is doing, are enemy combatants in his eyes.

WAKE UP AMERICA!

We are like frogs in a pot of water that is BOILING and you don't even notice! Every little thing adds up and it's adding up to a FASCIST STATE!

We are in the land of the John Birch Society, which btw Walt was a member of. They obviously have no concerns about what the public feels because they wield power locally as well as nationally due to all the campaign contributions to the Republican Reich.

We are slowly (but not too slowly) losing our democracy! It's time to get involved and DO something about what is going on!

Read "Conservatives Without Conscience" by John Dean or "Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans--Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild" by Greg Palast or "The Assault On Reason" by Al Gore.

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