Metal festival loses headliner and several bands after Kyle Rittenhouse is announced as a guest

If you were planning on going to the Shell Shock II music festival in Orlando and like Kyle Rittenhouse, then you’re in luck.

But if you were hoping to see a handful of bands — including headliner Evergreen Terrace — there, well… they apparently don’t want to be on the same card as Kyle Rittenhouse.

Instead, according to Loudwire, the new headliner for Shell Shock II will be a Slipknot cover band.

That’s right, the festival is now apparently limited to a headlining cover band after Rittenhouse’s participation was announced.

The dissolution began when Evergreen Terrace withdrew.

“Evergreen Terrace has always supported and continues to support philanthropic events for veterans, education about post-traumatic stress disorder, child poverty and more, but we will not stand for murderers like Kyle Rittenhouse capitalizing on their pseudo-celebrity. Unfortunately, we failed to do our due diligence in this particular event. Even after they offered to pull Kyle from the event, we discovered several affiliated companies that we simply disagreed with. As advocates of free expression, we are canceling the Shell Shock Festival out of respect. We will personally make a contribution to a veterans charity and urge you to do the same. The organizers were nothing less than understanding. “Lines we draw in the sand… depend on where we stand.”

Rittenhouse, who shot three people and killed two during a protest against racial injustice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020, claimed self-defense and was acquitted of all charges.

Loudwire reported that several other bands – Southpaw, Let Me Bleed and American Hollow – followed suit and dropped out of the festival.

All three of these bands issued statements saying, among other things, that they did not want to get involved in politics.

Meanwhile, according to Loudwire, festival organizers, including The Antihero Podcast, have released their response and… well.

“We were silent” says a post on The Antihero Podcast Instagram. “But we are preparing. The liberal mob tried to destroy Shell Shock. But we won’t allow it. This is about more than just a concert. This is a war of ideology.”