Ariana Baio
Jan 31, 2023
content.jwplatform.com
A Seattle-based indie band was asked not to return to the Climate Pledge Arena after ridiculing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in a song.
The band, Who Is She?, was scheduled to be the house band for the Seattle Kraken on three separate nights last week at the Climate Pledge Arena.
But the band was only able to play one night after modifying lyrics in one song to ridicule Bezos by calling him, “a total jerk” who is responsible for shutting down local bookstores, according to Seattle Times.
The band changed the lyrics in the 1999 song My My Metrocard by Le Tigre to suit Seattle with “My My ORCA Card.”
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The Bezos line included:
“Oh, no /Jeffrey Bezos /He’s such a total jerk / Shut down all the bookstores / Billionaires do not work”
The arena was recently renamed after Amazon bought the naming rights in 2020. Additionally, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, is a minority Kraken owner.
“In an unfortunate turn of events, apparently we are not welcome back at Jeff Bezos’ Climate Pledge Arena for tonight and tomorrow’s hockey games,” Who Is She? wrote on Instagram.
“Glad we got to play our take on this Le Tigre song, we had a blast. Sorry to anyone who was hoping to see us play. Go Kraken!” The band added.
The band is comprised of Robin Edwards, Bree McKenna, and Julia Shapiro. A fourth musician, Emily Nokes, was also performing with the band on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Kraken said they, “welcome a variety of artists to play at our games and we do not believe in censoring those artists, as is reflected by the variety of acts who perform at Climate Pledge Arena.”
They added that they “reserve the right to part ways early with an act if their behavior does not meet the professional standards we expect.”
“This decision was not related to the band’s choice of song. We require that our artists are professional, punctual and avoid consuming alcohol during their performance. As such, Who Is She? did not play the following two games. We wish them well," The Seattle Kraken said in a statement.
The band denies being intoxicated during their performance.
“Saying that we were would be a lie,” they said.
The band said they "practiced a ton" leading up to the game and even "cut out the few curse words" and added lyrics about hockey to fit the set.
"Replacing Rudy Giuliani’s name with Jeff Bezos made sense to us and his arena seemed like a great place to say it. We thought it was funny and well-received," they added.
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