Recently we have been witnessing bit of a scandal centered on Jesse Barnett, leader of well known US hardcore band Stick To Your Guns, resulting in band being kicked out from few festivals. Turns out old good Jesse had been spewing some absolutely embarrassing takes on war in Ukraine. It also came to our attention that he is happy to promote totalitarian ideologies. Now why do we think it’s important to bring it to wider attention? It is perhaps an understatement to say that war In Ukraine changed things in political landscape. What we might have dismissed as some relatively harmless shit talking by some ignorant Western kids few years ago, nowadays is something that cannot be tolerated any longer. Virus of authoritarian ideologies is spreading and as Putin is waging his war on Ukraine and his troops are committing horrendous acts while they are there, we have people like Jesse and all other useful tankie idiots that act as soft (or sometimes hard) Kremlin propaganda workers. We also decided to write about this particular case because Stick To Your Guns is a very well known and influential band in hardcore circles and we can’t let them simply get away with promoting this kind of ideas. We are happy to some there has been some backclash against Jesse and we are happy to see he has clearly realised that there are consequences of his activity. We would like to see more of that kind of thing in music scene, especially more challenges to ever present „westplaining”. We are publishing it because now him and his friends are attempting face saving tactics, alternating between downplaying what they said, trying to explain they meant something different whilst simultaneously accusing their critics of being 'azov nazis” and sending people to stalk and harass them.
We also asked Antifa CZ to comment on the whole situation and this is what they said:
„It’s dissapointing to see people who have supported many emancipatory activities adopt the victim-blaming propaganda of Putin’s regime, dowmplay the genocidal character of the Russian invasion with embarassing whataboutism, and insult the people who actually live in the impacted region”
Let us give voice to a person that it all started from and read their detailed account. We only provided minimal amount of editing and removed a small fragment of text that wasn’t too relevant to the situation:
Beginning
Recently I’ve found myself at the center of a situation regarding Jesse Barnett, the vocalist of hardcore band Stick To Your Guns. I want to shed some light on the reality of this situation, provide some insight and clarify a narrative that has seemingly gotten twisted.
For me, growing up in American hardcore prior to my move to Europe almost a decade ago and being the child of an Eastern European immigrant, I’ve had the opportunity to develop a specific perspective on a community that claims to pride itself on progressive political ideals, standing up for the oppressed, and care for community.
However, in recent years and especially lately, I’ve noticed that these positive traits are only viewed through an American or western lens. Even prior to the war in Ukraine, I’ve come across assumptions that anyone from eastern Europe speaks Russian or that living in the Czech Republic must be terrible because it’s “poor and grey”.
One moment that particularly stuck with me was when I was sharing with an online hardcore community about the November 17th holiday in the Czech Republic and a little bit about the Velvet Revolution. I was immediately met with combative rhetoric from the singer of a Florida hardcore band about the wonders of communism and defense of the Soviet Union. This person had never set foot in Central or Eastern Europe. (And also credits Stick To Your Guns for getting him into hardcore which isn’t anything particularly shocking).
It’s unfortunate that this form of western exceptionalism or westsplaining has even permeated subculture, and in an increasingly dangerous way while Ukraine is at war and fighting for the right to exist as a sovereign nation. This is why I felt the need to share the words and mentality of Jesse Barnett – a singer of a band with a huge fan base and gigantic platform.
European history under communism
Not long ago, a Czech friend of mine here in Prague shared with me his outrage regarding the way Jesse Barnett had spoken regarding communism in Cuba. (…)
Rather than listening to the stories and lived experiences of people who are from this country and had their families affected by the communist regime in Cuba, Jesse simply dismissed them with comments of “go cry about it” and “VIVA FIDEL”. The insensitivity and unwillingness to understand others was quite shocking to me.
Soon after I was shown a post made by a man living in the Czech Republic. He thoughtfully expressed why he refuses to listen to Stick To Your Guns. He detailed interactions that he had with Jesse Barnett which included not only stories from his own family’s history, but also some of the most well-known cases of communist terror in the Czech Republic such as the sham trial and persecution of Milada Horáková.
Even after this dialogue, he was willing to overlook cultural differences and considered the fact that most people living in the U.S. never lived under communism and perhaps weren’t very well-versed in the history of central and eastern Europe. This is something I knew well myself.
My connection to this part of the world afforded me the knowledge to know better, and I also did my best on many occasions to explain to American “communists” that their ideologies are arrogant, misinformed and only perpetuate false and dismissive narratives. Often it felt useless. This same Czech man also detailed another conversation that he had with Jesse Barnett in which Jesse exclaimed that NATO needs to be abolished and considered support for Ukraine to be “Russophobia.”
These comments came just days after Russia had invaded Ukraine, making them particularly insensitive. You can see both the post about previous interactions and Jesse’s claims of Russophobia below:
To be honest, the only thing I knew about Stick To Your Guns came from friends of mine and they often described the band and especially Jesse Barnett to be community-minded and someone who built an image and platform on ideas of anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism and giving a voice to the oppressed.
Help for refugees
After learning about the way he interacts with victims of communism, I decided I wanted to reach out to him myself. Since the war started, I’ve dedicated a lot of my free time to volunteering in any way I can to assist Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic.
I tutor Ukrainian children, assist Ukrainian families with housing and translation, and anything else that could be considered supportive. I also spend a lot of time fundraising and spreading awareness of the horrors that have occurred as a result of the Russian invasion. This topic is obviously close to me and I genuinely hoped that maybe Jesse Barnett wasn’t aware of the full scale of atrocities that were being committed against innocent people, simply for being Ukrainian.
I also found out that the band was scheduled to play Fajt Fest, a Czech music festival that had put on benefits for Ukraine, contributed money from ticket sales to Ukrainian aid and had been quite vocal about the situation and the necessity to help. Below you can see exactly how this conversation went.
I expected a discussion and was immediately met with a typical whataboutism mentioning Donbas and when I tried to make it clear that what is happening is genocide. (And also tried to find out why there’s such a disconnect between his anti-imperialist ideologies and his stance on Ukraine).
He responded with arrogant remarks such as “LMAO” and insisting I only cared about Ukraine “because it’s white people” (another whataboutism that many of us have experienced). I mentioned the forced Russification that’s being placed upon Ukrainian people and was met with the same dismissive remarks and was told to “take your Anti communist propaganda and go cry somewhere else.”
The rest of the conversation devolved into insults and him proclaiming “I’m a communist. Cry about it.” I received criticism for the way I interacted with Jesse, from both his die hard fans and even Marxist Czechs. They insisted that I should have taken the opportunity to educate Jesse and engage in polite discussion.
As you can see in this conversation, there is very little room for that and an adult man has the ability to choose how he reacts to others. You can see the conversation in full here:
Inadequacy of beliefs
I was shocked at the lack of empathy shown by someone who claimed to be so tolerant and so connected to anti-imperialist ideals and that shock quickly turned to anger. I’ve heard many stories from both refugees and friends still in Ukraine and the horrors are unimaginable.
I couldn’t believe that a rather privileged American man from LA who was able to tour the world with a band and run a communist book store without profit (All Power Books) in the name of caring for community and the underprivileged.
Displayed such an inability to look beyond his strongly held beliefs and own worldview to consider the experiences of others in a country and part of the world he clearly displayed very little knowledge of.
I decided to share this conversation via Instagram and it began to be shared. I also contacted Fajt Fest who initially blocked me but this was quickly resolved after other concerned people spoke up.
My second conversation with Jesse
…involved me sharing news from Kyiv reporting that 200,000 Ukrainian children had been deported to Russia. Rather than reading the information or engaging in a conversation, Jesse took the opportunity to further display his narcissistic and American-centric tendencies by responding with
“You’re obsessed huh? I actually woke up to 300 more followers. So keep making up lies and putting words in my mouth. It seems to be doing wonders for you.”
I responded by simply telling him that all I had done was share his exact words. I tried to further emphasize that preaching communism was not welcome in this part of the world, especially without listening to the stories of people who suffered.
He then went with another textbook tankie approach of talking about his alleged oppression under capitalism, As you can see in the screenshot, Jesse simply ends the conversation with “communism will win” and a threat “but just know that when I post about you, you’re gonna regret playing this game.”
Kremlin propaganda
At this point, it seemed clear to me that he had bought into Kremlin propaganda and I was outraged that someone with these ideas and inability to even have a discussion was set to not only play a festival in the Czech Republic, but a festival put on by a team that did a lot to support Ukraine. (We all know the history of Russian aggression in this country).
I shared my second conversation with Fajt Fest and others began to further speak out as well. I was personally contacted by individuals who had worked with Jesse in the past and spoke about how he had treated them when they attempted to explain why his communist beliefs were offensive to Europeans. (These individuals wished to remain anonymous as they still work in the industry and fear consequences).
Multiple people sent me conversations on Twitter between Jesse and others where he spoke about consequences for Ukraine, consequences for NATO rooted in his beliefs as a self-proclaimed Marxist, another whataboutism reference to Donbas, and a statement regarding Ukrainian fans:
“LMAO as if I give a fuck about “fans”. Dear all my fans, thank you for your support but your support doesn’t mean I have to give a fuck about what you think. Screenshot that and show it to everyone.”
Jesse Barnett on Twitter
Band kicked off from festival and concerts
I added this to a social media post which was shared by others. On June 2, Antifa CZ shared part of my conversation with Jesse, describing it as an excellent example of westsplaining. Jesse responded with an entirely different tone to these posts.
He was met with dissent from other Czech people for his seemingly artificial responses. A day later, Stick To Your Guns was removed from Fajt Fest in the Czech Republic. I communicated with promoters who reached out in both Poland and Slovakia and shared the information and conversations I had gathered.
Their shows in two Polish venues and one in Bratislava were canceled in the following days. Jesse Barnett did reach out to me to apologize (once his band began to lose shows), however in his apology you can see he tried to turn the narrative onto receiving:
“many messages from the people from the former eastern bloc that are concerned about the rising right wing policies”
Admitted that he only listened when Antifa CZ publicly tweeted about him, and made excuses that:
“no one gave me anything concrete to learn on”
Which is simply not true as many Europeans have tried to educate him in the past. The years of interaction with central and eastern europeans who tried to share their stories had no impact on him. The apologies only came once his band began to face consequences. A Polish promoter found this to be an important piece of information in the decision to cancel their show.
I shared information that the band had been removed from four shows in Europe along with further proof of Jesse’s Russian-centric westsplaining in the name of adhering to his communist beliefs.
This included Jesse calling Ukraine “a country filled with neo nazi batallions and have been killing ethnic Russians and others from autonomous areas of Ukraine”, a meme he had shared making light of people killed by Mao and Stalin, and an Instagram exchange he had with an individual defending Stalinist ideas (while calling himself a tankie).
Additionally I was sent a statement he had made regarding China, insisting that the Uyghur population was not being persecuted and killed. Interestingly enough, this information was sent to music fests and shows in western Europe who either did not respond or chose to listen to Jesse’s side only (with the exception of Outbreak fest – the band’s fifth canceled show).
As news spread about the show cancellations and what Jesse had said, I began to experience rather unpleasant side effects. First, a metal website theprp posted a story without contacting me and posted my Instagram account in their article.
Insult against me
They included a full statement of Jesse but left out many key elements and context while including some blatant disinformation about my background and connection to Jesse. I reached out to the website to offer to clarify the situation and received this information:
Luckily, I was able to quickly disprove these claims. (For example, I had never interacted with Jesse prior to our conversation surrounding Fajt Fest and Ukraine). The story was removed. However, the damage had already been done and the same story later popped up on other music websites such as Lambgoat and The Pit (these are still live on the website).
Comments began appearing that matched what the author of theprp said via email and a narrative began forming that this was all done in the name of cancel culture and an angry girl who hated Jesse. The focus was shifted away from Jess’s behavior and complete lack of empathy and knowledge towards people in central and eastern Europe and instead, shifted towards me based on false claims and irresponsible reporting.
Recently, Stick To Your Guns was also removed from the preshow of Outbreak Fest in Manchester. Immediately following this news, I received a wave of hate messages and comments ultimately prompting me to make my Instagram account private.
This stemmed from comment sections from poorly reported stories and comment sections under the announcement from Outbreak Fest. I expected this as I knew this band was quite popular and had many fans around the world.
What I did not expect, however, was to receive threats of being stalked. This individual had correct information about where I live and where I was going that evening (a hardcore venue called Klub 007). Later that night, I received further messages confirming that someone had, in fact, been following a friend and I.
“The sooner Ukraine loses to Russia, the sooner the world can make new trade deals with Russia”
It’s unfortunate that commentary on the subject remains American-centric – ranging from fans saying they don’t care about Ukraine.
To repeating Russian propaganda about the situation and dismissively calling Ukraine’s fight for the right to exist as a sovereign nation a “proxy war.”
Some of these appear to be genuine thoughts while other statements seem to stem from people refusing to believe that their hardcore idol may not be who they think he is. However, on the other hand, it did make the problematic behavior of western hardcore fans apparent and raised awareness about some of the dangers of speaking about this part of the world without prior knowledge (and with many prejudices and misinformation).
Without listening to the people living here, and with talking points from people such as Jesse Barnett so firmly engrained in people’s minds. I do hope it encourages people to start thinking about what’s happening in Ukraine, why it requires support, and why phrases such as “no war”, self-centered whataboutisms or inaccurate talking points are dangerous.
I also hope that it encourages people to understand that while freedom of speech exists, it does not mean one has freedom from consequences for what they say and accountability is important.
EDIT:
Since writing this, there have been a few developments. Most importantly, screenshots were leaked showing the partner of Jesse Barnett communicating with a social media account that previously sent direct threats and messages indicating that I was being stalked.
While the account changed its profile picture and bio, the username is the same. This time around, the account posted a photo of my partner and tagged him as “known neo-nazi tattooer” in Prague. The irony of it is almost laughable considering the fact that the shop he works in is covered in Good Night White Pride and antifascist stickers and banners.
The partner of Jesse Barnett
She expressed her enthusiastic support of this clearly false attempt at defamation by exclaiming “Omg I love you” and went on to have a conversation with this still unknown person (which truthfully, is not so surprising considering the fact that she openly posts photos of herself wearing USSR symbols).
In this conversation they both share completely falsified details about myself and my partner (which match nearly word for word what was “anonymously” said to music websites such as theprp).
The partner of Jesse Barnett expressed frustration that information about Jesse’s beliefs “cost him the money we were supposed to use to survive” and lamented that she is “working extra jobs now.”
Interestingly enough, there’s no remorse for Jesse’s statements and instead, his partner doubles down on dangerous rhetoric by saying “We are being force fed Pro Ukraine propaganda in every face of media” and
“here it’s just so Russophobic and anti Russia it’s in everything.Even a bar I went to tonight had a drink called ‘Glory to Ukraine’ that had $1 of every order go to Ukraine and our city hall is lit up blue and yellow and literally every brand, app and corporation is blindly pro Ukraine with no nuance.”
Perhaps the most startling statement made by Barnett’s partner comes in the form of her reacting to and agreeing with the anonymous user “Being Ukrainian won’t protect her… In fact it makes it worse” to which she replied “Right” with a laughing emoji and “white supremacy is a disease.
At the end we know
As horrifying as it was to see all of this, it did shed some light on who was responsible for this misinformation. After initially lying and denying their responsibility, the person involved admitted that they had given out false information about both my partner and I based on zero material evidence.
Interestingly enough, when they first denied these claims she insisted she wouldn’t get so involved because she knows we aren’t nazis or racists. But being accepted by a Marxist idol was too tempting I suppose.
When my partner, whose face and name were both defamed by this account, tried to reach out to the partner of Barnett to rectify the situation in a respectful, clear way, she refused to listen and blocked him.
Ultimately though, the promoters who believed Barnett’s “apology” under pressure in the name of making money vs ethics are the ones who should probably feel the most remorse.
Why do I care
Someone asked why I still care when clearly nothing can be done to change these people’s minds. I care because I take accusations of racism seriously and also refuse to let people who are disconnected from central and eastern Europe to portray support for Ukraine as being anything related to fascism.
I’m sick of the misinformed narratives and as it always has been, my goal in sharing information is to explain and give insight into why this type of idealogy is harmful.
While people are patting each other on the back for shouting about Azov and calling all Ukrainians neo-nazis at their American communist meet-ups and on their Twitter feeds, innocent people and brave defenders are being starved, raped, tortured, and murdered daily at the hands of an oppressive invader.
It’s not something to take lightly.