At a concert at Nanaimo, B.C.'s Port Theatre Saturday night (Oct. 15), Vancouver musician Matthew Good, lead singer and songwriter of Matthew Good Band, went off on a rant that isn't sitting well with the internet.
Good was performing a solo set and according to reports in between songs he suggested that people who attended "freedom" protests, like ones in Canada outside of hospitals, should be put on planes to the Congo. In a video shared to social media, he is heard saying "then they can get off, and, like 14-year-olds can fire AK-47s at them."
The video is almost a minute long and it appears that he began by complaining about the protesters. His comments were initially met with cheers though some members of the crowd expressed shock when he got to the end of his thought. When he finishes speaking the crowd does cheer.
Since the video has been posted the reactions and interpretations of Good's words online vary from disappointment to anger. Some people are taking his comments seriously and calling Good a fascist while others suggest it was a joke in poor taste. One widely circulated report categorizes the group to which Good was referring as "unvaccinated."
Matthew Good responds with statement about comments
Good has since spoken to iHeart Radio and claims that the video took what he was saying out of context. He denies talking about vaccines all together and says he was referring to tyranny in Canada.
A representative for Good provided the following statement late Wednesday night from the musician about the comments, video, and social media reaction:
First, and let me make this rightly clear, my recent comments on stage had to do with the subject of tyranny, and at no time did I mention unvaccinated people or vaccines. I don’t even know where that came from, and I would never argue that a person does not have the right to govern their own body.
I was talking about people who believe they are living in tyranny in Canada, and yes, I did say I would like to put those people on planes to the Congo, and when they got off 14-year-olds with AK-47s could fire at them, so they would know what living in a real tyranny is like. I was referencing child soldiers because the reality is that their very existence demonstrates an utterly reprehensible state of violence that no one in this country must deal with. In the context of the tyrannical, we do not dwell in a nation in which armed men and boys as young as 9 show up in villages and towns and carry out gross acts of violence. We simply do not face that reality. My reference to it was to point out that those who believe this nation is tyrannical know nothing of its modern truth, and therefore I used an extreme example to demonstrate that.
Do I actually believe anyone should be shot? Of course not, that’s ludicrous. This whole thing is ludicrous.
The video posted online cuts off just as I start talking about how our liberties are the most important thing we have in Canada, and I do believe that wholeheartedly, and it was my liberty to say what I said. You can hear the audience cheering, except for the one guy who booed, which suggests to me that the people who believe we are living in tyranny are still a very small fringe group. If anything, this should be a cautionary tale of how easily things can be taken out of context and how you should not believe everything you read on the internet.
Good was also in trouble last year and was dropped by his label because of allegations of abuse levied against him by former girlfriend, model and music producer Hayley Mather. Good denied the claims.
This latest incident has some people calling for his upcoming shows in Canadian cities like Banff to be cancelled. Here are more reactions online to Good's comments as heard in the video clip:
