Photo by David Waldman

Viet Cong were set to perform at the Oberlin College venue Dionysus Disco on March 14. However, the promoter has canceled the show because of the band's name.

In a statement shared on the venue's Facebook page, promoter Ivan Krasnov apologized "for inviting a band with a name that deeply offends and hurts Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American communities, both in Oberlin and beyond." He continued, "I acknowledge the problematic nature of a band naming themselves 'Viet Cong' and extend my apology to anyone hurt or made uncomfortable by the name and its connotations."

Krasnov pointed to an interview with the band's Matt Flegel where he brushed off objections to the band's name. "Vietnamese immigrants—the Vietnamese Canadians and Vietnamese Americans—will write us an email saying that their family was tortured by the Viet Cong for five years in a prison camp. ... It's just a band name. It's just what we called ourselves."

Krasnov wrote, "The fact that the band openly acknowledges their problematic name, yet fails to change it or do anything about it, highlights this blatantly appropriative move, reinforcing a tradition of American (and Western) orientalism and appropriation."

Read the full statement here.