Sepultura have addressed their recent concert cancellation in Lebanon, with the group having been banned from the country due to accusations of “devil worship”.
Last week, we notes that Brazilian metal outfit Sepultura had received word that their scheduled performance in Beirut, Lebanon for Sunday, April 28th had been cancelled.
While the group and tour organisers were not allowed to view the decision, the concert ban supposedly to accusations of: “insulting Christianity, that the band members are devil worshipers, that they held a concert in Israel, [and] that they filmed a video clip supporting Israel.”
Promoter Skull Session later issued a statement noting that the “accusations are totally untrue”, and clarifying the fact that the band did not perform in Israel during the filming of their 1993 video for ‘Territory’, but rather showed pre-shot footage of the country.
“As for insulting religion, current members of Sepultura fight against all forms of corruption, and call on the world to return to goodness and nature and to reject corruption,” Skull Session continued.
“Since it’s the nature of metal music, the band uses a violent style of expression. But they did not directly attack Christianity.”
Now, Sepultura have addressed the issue themselves, offering up a free livestream concert dedicated to those who missed out on seeing them live.
Taking to Facebook earlier today, the group apologised to their fanbase, citing a “false interpretation of our purposes and values” as the reason for the whole debacle.
“On behalf of Sepultura and staff, we would like to express to our public in Beirut our deep dissatisfaction with the situation to which we were submitted by the general security office which resulted in the cancellation of our show that would take place yesterday (Sunday, April 28th) at The Palace,” the band wrote.
“In 35 years of history, it was the first time we had our entry blocked in a country by a false interpretation of our purposes and values since our intention has always been to promote unity and freedom of expression through music, without making any political, racial or religious distinction.”
In an attempt to make up for the incident to those who had planned to see the band perform, Sepultura have revealed plans to broadcast their upcoming concert in Dubai on May 2nd.
While the performance is specifically “in honor of all Sepultura Lebanese fans who could not watch us in person,” the group has invited all of their fans to watch the livestream.
So if you’re keen to check out what will undoubtedly be a ferocious live stream from Sepultura, be sure to head to their YouTube page at about 5am on Friday morning and wake up with some unrelenting riffs and rhythms.
Check out Sepultura’s ‘Territory’:
