Johnny Chrome Silver is the latest in a growing list of electronic music artists martyred for hate speech. Following a comment made at the expense of transgender Brooklyn DJ and producer Octo Octa A.K.A. Maya Bouldry-Morrison, his fellow Icelander and bbbbbb label head Bjarki has announced that he is no longer with the label.
On Resident Advisor‘s Instagram post for Octa Octa’s installment of their RA Sessions series, Johnny Chrome Silver reportedly commented from the bbbbbb account, “Better to make it as a DJ to be a she than a he. She-man!” Resident Advisor‘s team deleted the comments, but Bouldry-Morrison addressed them via Twitter.
And of course this is what happens. pic.twitter.com/yqWdIlmxVC
— Octo Octa (@octo_octa) July 17, 2017
In response to the incident, an event headlined by Bjarki at House of Yes in NYC was cancelled. The promoter cited “transphobic behavior” on the part of bbbbbb as the reason the night was called off, prompting the label boss himself to address the matter on his Facebook page.
No Tolerance for the Intolerant
Johnny Chrome Silver is by no means the first musician to get blackballed by the electronic music industry for insensitive comments. In 2015, a homophobic tirade by Lithuanian producer Ten Walls cost him numerous gigs, and remarks made by Giegling label boss Konstantin resulted in similar controversies last month.
Bjarki himself is perhaps Iceland’s chief techno export. In addition to putting out music through bbbbbb, he has seen numerous releases via Nina Kraviz‘ трип imprint – the most recent of which being “This 5321” from an upcoming EP of its namesake. On the other hand, Johnny Chrome Silver is relatively unknown outside of Iceland.
Maya Bouldry-Morrison has not publicly commented on the incident further at this time.
Source: Resident Advisor
