Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind upset a GOP crowd in Cleveland while performing at a charity concert (that was not related to the Republican National Convention) at Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week. Jenkins spoke about gay rights before performing “Jumper” and was boo-ed. During the same show, Jenkins asked the crowd to “raise your hand if you believe in science.”
“We weren’t vituperative, so how ’bout everybody lighten the f—- up?” Jenkins said in an interview with Billboard. “We played great, and the best byproduct is that Musicians On Call is getting the press it deserves. And one more thing: This was a private charity event that otherwise wouldn’t have gotten any notice had we not spoken up.”
(FYI: vituperative means “bitter and abusive,” we googled it).
“I said, ‘This next song is about a gay kid who jumped off a bridge because of being bullied,'” Jenkins told Vulture. “There were some guys in the front, and I’m up there talking about how people like my gay cousin are still not considered to be enfranchised fully into the American fabric, and a guy is booing me saying that. And I’m just like: ‘That’s what this song is about, so you can boo me all you want.’”
Third Eye Blind will be performing at Kaaboo Festival 2016 in Del Mar. Daily lineups TBD.
Jenkins explains his political and world views below. Quotation above via rollingstone.com.
—via elle.com
—via elle.com
—via lasvegassun.com
—via Consequence of Sound