Bassnectar had a fall from grace in 2020 when an audiotape showed that he was seducing a 17-year-old girl. As more victims came forward, major news publications picked up the sword. It was discovered that Bassnectar had allegedly engaged in child pornography and human sex trafficking.
This news was especially difficult for Bassnectar fans, who referred to themselves as “Bassheads”. The Basshead community was, for its time, considered one of the most dedicated and progressive in all of rave culture. Many of these fans now refuse to listen to the music because of his bad behavior. Recently, EDM Star ILLENIUM got his lashings for playing one of Bassnectar’s songs at Ember Shores, in Cancun Mexico last weekend. This event was Illenium’s own destination festival organized by Pollen.
The reactions on Twitter have varied. Other artists and producers commiserate with how difficult it can be to keep track of “who did what song” in the throes of a set. Many fans have gone up to bat for him, and accepting his apology and supporting him. However, he has also been receiving death threats and defamation.
ILLENIUM issued an apology on Twitter around the controversy, claiming ignorance. He additionally made a statement about the volatility of the twitter-sphere, and how his faux-pas did not warrant death threats.
“I have all the respect in the world for sa (sexual abuse) survivors. I would never intentionally do something to silence or question them. But the problem with ur (twitter) comments is it’s a chain reaction. People get more and more legitimized by negativity, so the comments get more and more severe until they get to the point of telling me I would die or telling me I’m a useless and complete sh*t person. The whole “keep me accountable” thing turns into a fkn beating for an honest mistake. Not entirely ur fault but like wtf humans?”
The Bassnectar subreddit took a more measured approach. A skim of the comments shows that the majority of Bassnectar fans 1) don’t buy Illenium’s story that he was unaware of the track’s source and 2) think the cancel culture nature of Twitter fans is going too far in this instance. What do you think?
