Embattled folk singer Michelle Shocked, who last weekend stunned a San Francisco audience with an anti-gay rant, tweeted Friday that she still plans to appear at a California club on Saturday, even though the venue cancelled her appearance due to her homophobic remarks.
Shocked announced that she would appear Saturday night at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, Calif., for a “speaking engagement” on the subject of “Effects of Gay-Bashing on the L.A. Mayoral Race” — much to the surprise of the venue’s management, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“She is not welcome at McCabe’s,” said the venue’s angry concert director, Lincoln Myerson, who had just learned about Shocked’s vow — or threat — to show up after he got calls regarding the singer’s mysterious tweet.
On Monday, the guitar shop and concert venue joined nearly every other club on her itinerary in canceling her planned show after the singer’s alleged anti-gay comments at the opening gig of the tour Sunday night in San Francisco led to mass walkouts and media furor.
Myerson said that McCabe’s has not heard from Shocked, despite repeated attempts to reach her before and since cancelling her show. He added that, as of a couple days ago, none of the other halls or clubs that had canceled her shows had heard a peep out of the her either.
On Sunday night, during an exchange with audience members minutes into her second set at Yoshi’s San Francisco, Shocked said, “If someone would be so gracious as to please tweet out, ‘Michelle Shocked just said from stage, God hates faggots.’ Would you do it now?”
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Her remarks, which included her opposition to same-sex marriage, led to most of the audience walking out of the venue. (Audio of the exchange is here.)
Reaction to Shocked’s performance was swift. In the 48 hours that followed, ten of the eleven venues, remaining on Shocked’s U.S. tour — including McCable’s — cancelled her performance, citing the San Francisco incident. The remaining venue said Shocked herself cancelled that performance.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, Shocked claimed her remarks were “misinterpreted.”