Kepi Ghoulie of Sacramento punk vets the Groovie Ghoulies has been urging the Punk Rock Museum and its co-founder Fat Mike of NOFX to cease working with the clothing company Dixxon Flannel, who they launched a collaboration with in June. Kepi accused the clothing company–who have previously done flannel collaborations with many other punk and metal musicians, including Metallica, Megadeth, Hatebreed, Cypress Hill, Rancid, and Guns N’ Roses–of “[printing] pro fascist garments,” and he shared a series of alleged screenshots to back up his case, including one that appears to be Dixxon Flannel posting a mock-up on social media of a “Fuck Antifa” shirt in 2020. Punk Rock Museum has now issued a statement in response.
“The Punk Rock Museum aims to be inclusive and in no way supports anything that is fascist or nationalist in any capacity,” the museum organizers said in a statement. “We will strive to vet our potential partnerships further in the future.”
“We’re grateful to Kepi Ghoulie and those in our community that brought this to our attention,” the statement continues. “The shirt has been pulled from Dixxon effective immediately.”
Earlier this week, Kepi posted that he was disassociating from the museum:
I HAVE SPENT 6 WEEKS OF MY LIFE trying to “fight the good fight” within my community… June 5-7 I was in discussions with @thepunkrockmuseum about their partnerships with a fascist / nationalist leaning garment partner… June 11 they were supposed to have a meeting about it and were supposedly exchanging emails about the issue… the meeting had been postponed… since June 20 I have sent three messages to @thepunkrockmuseum and have been ghosted. I have been left no choice but to disassociate and renounce any relationships with them, and I no longer support my cover versions of Rancid and NOFX songs from the community that I grew up in and embraced…. I feel Joe Strummer would be rolling over in his grave, and although none of us is perfect, we CAN choose personal evolution and the growth of a truly inclusive and respectful scene, and that is where you will find me, always trying… good luck to us all, farewell fascism…
After the museum posted their new statement, Kepi said, “I talked to Fat Mike, he thanked me for calling him out, he was on tour and said his people didn’t want to bother him, that he found out everything today and cancelled all dealings with Dixxon.”
“I guess this is as good as one could hope for for now,” Kepi added. “He said that he always wants to do the right thing.”
See posts from both Kepi and Punk Rock Museum below…
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9x-FDPvzA-/
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9vMA24S35i/?img_index=1
https://www.instagram.com/p/C70Gx8wvsxr/
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9vvb2nPAyN/
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9yUVvgvpSX/