Over the past week or so a growing list of Aussie musicians have been calling out Rancid Eddie for misogynist lyrics, as well as offensive comments they’ve made. The Australian band lightly touched on the issue in an Instagram post last Friday, but many people believed their vague post largely missed the mark.

Now, they’ve issued a new lengthy statement addressing the allegations against them – interestingly posted on a Friday evening when many people are otherwise engaged.

To catch you up to speed, last week Rancid Eddie were awarded the coveted top spot for Spotify’s New Music Friday with their single ‘Dry’.

Australian artists Kira Puru and Montaigne quickly called out the streaming giants for “platforming” acts that perpetuate “a sick culture that hurts many”. Their reasoning? The lyrics to ‘Dry’ count “Sex don’t feel very nice/When the feeling is dry” and “I can’t get it up when I’m all out of love/And I’m always drunk ’cause I hate you so damn much” amongst them. You can read more details about their reaction here.

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Furthermore, a screen-recorded video of the band performing an acoustic live set on Instagram also incited backlash for the lyrics “I wanna punch some cunt, then fuck some slut, then pass out face down in the rain”.

Puru pointed out that the lyrics can be triggering for people who have experienced domestic abuse.

“It doesn’t matter what the song’s about or whether the band identify as misogynists. The lyric ‘I’m always drunk ‘cuz I hate you’ unapologetically hints at the type of behaviour that anyone who has been in an abusive relo knows well and shouldn’t be normalised let alone promoted,” she posted on Twitter.

The band also posted a number of offensive comments on Instagram, including one where they said “eat a dik u poof” and another where they said “some” women “are” sluts.

Ruby Boland and Spacey Jane have since called out the band on social media, too. This week, multiple venues have quietly cancelled Rancid Eddie gigs.

Tonight Rancid Eddie released a lengthy statement on Instagram addressing their actions and the public’s reactions.

“First off, we do not accept the notion that we have to explain or justify our lyrics,” they began.

“The public sphere should be a vent for all forms of expressions (language, ideas, arts etc.) as opposed to only being an echo chamber for speech and views that ‘higher-society’ are comfortable acknowledging.”

“Another argument would be that noone is righteous enough to govern what should and should not be allowed in the public sphere.”

The lengthy 10-slide statement continues and the band speak of their “working class status” and say that the “attack” was waged on them from “mostly young, privileged, university-educated, inner city champagne socialists.”

“They are a vocal minority who see themselves as virtuous ‘activists’ and organise to make their voices appear louder than they are.”

The band said that the uproar surrounding their posts and lyrics is “the most repulsive form of punching down we’ve seen”.

Rancid Eddie continued their tirade, saying that the only “real misogyny” they’ve seen is towards “female fans that defend” them.

“The only real misogyny we’ve seen so far has been towards our female fans that defend us – they’ve been called stupid, told they have no self respect, and are now being called disgusting names by people pretending to care about social issues.”

The band then addressed the elephant in the room; all of the gigs they’ve been kicked off in the past week.

“This little social media gestapo have fucked us pretty good. We got booted off festivals, and our sold out shows that were booked in and ready to go for next year have been cancelled. Some of you might take pleasure in that, but we think the majority of people would see it as a damn shame and an injustice to happen to a band that’s just starting out.”

The statement takes up ten text-filled slides, which you can read from start to finish yourself. However, in one of the points Rancid Eddie did touch on the comment where they said “eat a dik u poof”.

“Jess did use a homophobic word when he went on a drunken Insta-spree – we deleted the comment as soon as we saw it. He was upset and trying to provoke the PC mob, but that’s not cool – we removed the comment immediately and sincerely apologise to all of the gay community for that who was hurt and inferred by that, that either he or other members of the band are homophobic,” they wrote.

While some fans are standing steadfast and have showed their support in the comments, many are questioning whether this post was an apology or statement.

“Holy shit this is the worst notes app apology ive ever seen,” said IG user @Simosoo.

“So basically “sorry you feel that way”? yikes. i truely hoped you guys would work on becoming better people from this rather then making a statement suggesting that we call out bullshit for fun and for self empowerment. do you think we want your fans in our dms sending us threats and abuse? we are SCARED to be around people that treat women how you do . it’s not about cancel culture, it’s about holding people accountable for their actions – especially when they have an impressionable audience. do better,” commented another.

Meanwhile, Mallrat apparently just CBF reading the ten pages of text: “Basically… I’m not reading all of that,” she commented.

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