Ariel Pink has confirmed that he attended the pro-Trump rally that unfurled at the White House yesterday to “peacefully show his support for the president”.
Rumours that the lo-fi musician took part in the process hit a groundswell after filmmaker Alex Lee Moyer (who directed the controversial Incel documentary TFW NO GF) shared a photo of Pink and composer John Maus in Washington together on her private Instagram.
The picture depicted Pink, Maus and Washington in a D.C. hotel room, alluding to their attendance. “The day we almost died but had a great time instead,” she wrote. Moyer also shared footage of Maus on-site at the Capitol.
Shortly after the photo began circulating, Pink took to Twitter to clarify his involvement in the protests; confirming that he attended the rally but was not part of the mob that stormed the Capitol.
And here’s the picture. Sorry your creepy shitty white men favs are confirmed creepy shitty white men! pic.twitter.com/J3CP8YBLj9
— Kat Bee (@katbeee) January 7, 2021
“i was in dc to peacefully show my support for the president,” he wrote in response to a critic. “i attended the rally on the white house lawn and went back to hotel and took a nap. case closed.”
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When a Twitter user that questioned the recklessness of attending a rally during the pandemic, Pink replied, “all the people at these events deserve whats coming to them. they took the risk knowing full well what might happen. BLM protests over the past 6 months are not informed about the pandemic?”
He further cemented his support for Trump, tweeting: “vote for trump.”
John Maus hasn’t offered a transparent comment on his involvement with the protests, instead he opted to share a section from Pope Pius XI to the Archbishops and Bishops of Germany:
“Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community – however necessary and honourable be their function in worldly things – whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinises them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts and order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith and from the concept of life which that faith upholds.”
It’s a confusing, weird and cucked situation which doesn’t feel at all surprising considering Ariel Pink’s long-standing propensity for “trolling.” Over the last few years, the musician has grappled with his wailing relevance by spewing 4-chan-core diatribe, some choice quotes from the former indie icon include: “It’s not illegal to be racist,” “This gay marriage stuff pisses me off,” and “I love necrophiliacs.”
It all feels so boring and desperate.
