Midget Singer Homophobic?

Local News, By Christian Taylor, 3rd July, 2009

A gay male claims that he was the victim of a homophobic hate crime during a rock show at East Brunswick Club last Saturday night – he was shamed on stage by a performer he’d paid to see, and had a drink thrown in his face.

According to Alex Ettling, he was in the crowd watching the band Midget, and guitarist and singer Chris Moller [pictured] repeatedly spouted homophobic comments from the stage. At one point he declared that the theme of their tour was ‘no homo’.

“As an oppressed group you get pretty used to being marginalised and degraded in the course of your day-to-day life. It grinds you down and makes it hard to want to stand up against haters and bullies,” says Ettling.

“On this occasion, I somehow summoned up the courage to call Chris on his bigotry and so heckled from the crowd that he was homophobic. Chris seemed shocked that someone was standing up against him and asked me to come up on stage to defend my accusation through the microphone.”

Ettling obliged, and addressed the crowd, saying that his comments were homophobic and didn’t belong at a rock show. “In the same way that you wouldn’t dare say ‘no black people’ or ‘no women’ on this tour, you can’t target queer people,” says Ettling.

“He then went on to degrade me by saying things like ‘do you know who you’re talking to? I suck cocks!’. He later admitted to me that this was a lie. He offered to the crowd that the reason I was complaining was because I ‘hadn’t been laid in ages’. He encouraged antagonism from the crowd and stirred up a mosh pit of aggressive Midget fans. Whilst I was talking, a full drink was thrown at me hitting me in the face. Another drink was hurled at me some time after. I was shocked from the impact of the projectile and the scenario that was unfolding. It felt like the homophobic indie rock equivalent of a public stoning. I composed myself and went to the mic to denounce the violence of the response, but had my mic cut off.”

Ettling said that neither the band nor security did anything to stop the attack or condemn them in the aftermath. They didn’t make any effort to find the perpetrators. Ettling asked to speak to the venue management and promoter three times through various means, including through the bar staff and security, and was repeatedly ignored.

Martin Evans, Music Co-ordinator of East Brunswick Club said that it’s not the club’s policy to censor performers or artists, nor does it knowingly book or support performers or artists who have discriminatory, violent or anti-social agendas.

“Any views expressed by performers or artists during a performance at the The East Brunswick Club are not representative of the views of, and are in no way supported by, the owners, management or staff of The East Brunswick Club,” Evans told Same Same. Despite the club’s inactivity to Ettling’s requests for action, Evans affirms that the venue “always has and will continue to openly support diverse and minority community groups.”

A reviewer for our rock music sister site Fasterlouder.com.au was also there that night.

“The guitarist constantly shouted short bursts of inflammatory dialogue at the audience but the most amusing moment comes when a punter responds. Yelling, ‘Homophobe’ from somewhere near the sound desk. The frontman responds by stopping the set and demanding to know, ‘who said that?’ Several members of the crowd are more than happy to comply pointing excitedly at the offending party. At which point he invites the accuser up on stage with him. Taking a mike the punter who looks somewhat like Jermaine from Flight of the Concords, takes a mike angrily stating, ”’No homos’, you might as well say no blacks or women too.” The frontman responds by claiming that he himself is gay and the audience member’s mike is swiftly cut off. I don’t think anyone was expecting this controversial turn but the band seem determined to keep offending suggesting that their heckler is in need of a Snuggie.”

According to Ettling, the lead singer from another band who performed on the night tried to get Chris Moller to apologise to Ettling. “But Chris became increasingly defensive and agitated, spouted more offensive statements and then had us thrown out of the venue.”

Ettling left quietly but asked once more to speak to management. Security continued to ignore him for another 30 minutes until he left, and reported the incident to the police.

Ettling said that the incident was traumatising. “It doesn’t matter how gung-ho you think you will be about confronting prejudice, it’s always tough to face people who have more power than you. Confident white heterosexual men with microphones, exuding a whole lot of personality are really scary to stand up to. I’m disappointed that, on-the-whole … there were more cheers for Midget than there were for me. But I got a few pats on the back afterwards.”

Chris Moller tells Same Same that his words have been taken out of context.

“Both ‘No Homo’ and ‘Snuggie’ were innocent, silly band in-jokes, originating from YouTube videos – both produced by a guy who specialises in parodies of mainstream culture – watched on that tour,” says Moller. “The videos are aimed at making fun of the gullibility of mainstream culture (no offence) and taking the mickey out of homophobic, bigoted, rednecked white trash (offence intended).”

The Snuggie video is here:

The No Homo video is here:

”’No homo’ ... is an American catch-phrase which ‘theoretically’ allows ‘average’ heterosexual males to engage in what could be considered homo-erotic acts whilst remaining incontrovertibly heterosexual – all as long as you add the disclaimer ‘No homo’,” says Moller. “An hilarious insight into the extent of white, middle-class male insecurity. My mistake was thinking that it is a common part of the cultural lexicon, however it’s obviously not as widespread in Australia as myself and my band-mates thought. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been used so flippantly, despite – please note – the fact it was said with lashings of irony. We would never use this term seriously or with any intention to offend!”

Moller said that he is offended at the implication that he is homophobic.

“Midget – and myself – have always supported gay rights, and have performed (sometimes in drag) at many benefits and contributed songs to CDs for many causes, including encouraging awareness of violence against women, third world poverty, and many other causes.

“As someone with many gay friends, who is married to a bisexual woman – heck, as someone who has enjoyed his share of boy-kisses over the years – I certainly would never, never intend to cause offence to anyone, or make a joke at the expense of their sexuality.

“I do now understand, however, that our on-stage in-joke could be interpreted in another way totally to the innocent, simplistic way it was said. This implication didn’t strike me at the time, but to anyone to whom this caused offence – obviously Alex Ettling, but also anyone else who was at the show or has read of this incident – I am truly sorry. And I mean that. That said, a live punk-rock show is entertainment – it’s not a political forum. Anyone who attempts to wrest the stage from the band in order to deliver a political diatribe is never going to get a positive response from this kind of audience, whatever their beliefs or sexual orientation. I certainly didn’t incite the audience in any way, I didn’t need to – they were already pumped and primed for what they came there for – loud, noisy rock’n’roll!

“As for the offended punter in question, I did actually introduce myself, offered him my hand by way of apology, and took the time to attempt to explain the origin of my comment. All to no avail, as Alex wouldn’t listen, and was convinced a greater anti-homosexual masterplan was at work – a ‘hate crime’ no less.

“To those who have sent me violent and derogatory comments – do you understand how hypocritical it is to incite violence against someone whom you believe – erroneously – to have committed a violent act. To do so without the facts is ludicrous – you’re condoning what you condemn.”