Scream if you’re with them.
Australian electro duo The Presets have weighed in on the seemingly inevitable executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in Bali this week and provoked furious debate.
In a Facebook post Sunday, the band made up of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes told their 228,000 followers that they don’t want supporters of the executions to listen to their music.
This came after a post they made on Saturday night saying they were thinking of Chan and Sukumaran and their families.
Many fans commented to express their support of Chan and Sukumaran and of the band’s comments, while others were less charitable and wrote comments about the impact illegal smuggled drugs have on society.
One poster said that Chan and Sukumaran don’t deserve any compassion as drug smugglers.
The Presets replied, “trust me, when you fuck up and make a total dickhead out of yourself, I won’t kill you over it.”
After much comment, the duo made their position very clear: “if you believe in state sanctioned murder, are against compassion and think you are above making mistakes… please… unfollow us, delete all our music and stop listening to us altogether. peace.”
The comment resulted in more heated arguments both for and against.
“Let me get this straight, drug smugglers who wreck thousands of peoples lives, who got caught in a country with the death penalty are actually felt sorry for?? They are f***ing drug smuggling scum. I’d rather be shot dead than stay in prison for life, they get of easy. I think the death penalty should be brought back for serious crimes, rape, murder etc. That way they are gone and don’t go on costing money as well…” wrote one charming character.
Comments like this prompted a stronger statement from The Presets: “if you agree with murder, lack compassion and openly display those views on our page then yes, you are a total c*** and can f*** off . I don’t care if that offends, if you truly have delicate sensibilities then surely you are not a passive murderer.”
After even more comments, some accusing The Presets of name-calling and disrespecting their fans, The Presets brought out the big guns: CAPS LOCK.
In a final comment on the issue yesterday, Moyes apologised, saying there’s “no excuse for getting personal” and went on to clarify his position against the death penalty and his reason for it.
“I personally believe that no Government should have the right to take away somebody’s life. I personally believe that State sanctioned killing almost never does any good and it often does great harm,” he wrote.
Read more: Australian celebrities’ plea: ‘Save our boys, Mr Abbott.’
…”both my heart and my head profoundly disagree with State sanctioned killings such as these.”
The Presets are just two of many Australian celebrities who have thrown their support behind Chan and Sukumaran, including Geoffrey Rush, Joel Edgerton and Bryan Brown.
Top Comments
Who are the Presets?
Wow, he's calling out people for their "lack of compassion", then turns around and calls people who don't agree with him, possibly the worst, most denigrating word he can come up with ... C%^&. Way to go loser for offending 50% of the population. Now I'm offended!