Hedley Dropped From Juno’s While Radio Stations Refuse To Play Their Music In Latest Trial By Social Media

Feb 15, 2018

Source  –  At least three Canadian radio stations have pulled Hedley from their playlists after a barrage of sexual misconduct allegations against the band surfaced on social media this week.

The firestorm of accusations prompted the group to post a statement on Facebook, dismissing the claims from young fans as “unsubstantiated.” But the allegations prompted the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to drop the band from the Junos awards ceremony.

Edmonton-based Hot 107 is one of the stations which has temporarily stopped airing Hedley’s music.

“It’s a band of talented musicians, but there’s simply too many stories from underage fans who claim they were victims of misconduct,” said Chris Myers, the station’s program director.

“Thinking back to early encounters with Hedley, I may have written off unruly behavior that I saw first-hand as a juvenile and had hoped they had perhaps grown up. It’s really hard to turn a blind eye this time around.”

He added that Hedley was on its airwaves “every couple of hours” before allegations of harassment and inappropriate touching began to surface.

Many accusations can everyone of the #outhedley2k18 hashtag on Twitter.

Organizers of the annual music show say it was a joint decision with Hedley “after careful consideration of the situation.”

Goes without saying judgment assaulting anyone, especially if they are underage, is criminal and horrific.

Fort media outlets it’s empowering to their business to latch on to a social war and be on the right side of the issue for one reason.  Page Views.  That’s it, and that’s all.  Same with social media which is a wasteland of meatheads who weren’t loved enough when they were younger who get self-importance from “yay me” tweets and posts to appear to be on the SJW tip.

Hedley released a statement doing the same thing despite multiple posts from young people outing their crotch grabbing ways.

https://twitter.com/basedyayylmao/status/963664929608826880

The band, in its social media statement, said they “respect and applaud the #MeToo movement” and say it is especially important within the music industry, “which does not exactly have an enviable history of treating women with the respect they deserve.”

“We appreciate the bravery of those who have come forward with their own stories, and we realize that all of us, as individuals and as a society, can and must do better when it comes to this issue,” said the statement.

“However, if we are to have a meaningful, open and honest discussion, we all have to accept and respect that there are at least two sides to every story. The recent allegations against us posted on social media are simply unsubstantiated and have not been validated. We would hope that people will bear-in-mind the context in which these unsupported accusations have been made before passing judgment on us as individuals or as a band.”

https://twitter.com/MaddyClaps11/status/963784584256045056

You don’t need to be right or wrong to condemn shit.  You just need to have fingers and a brain before you convict people.

With everyone of these cases the only response should be as follows:

“If these Allegations are true (insert name of dick bag here) should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  Until then we will wait to pass judgment until these allegations have been granted due process.  NO person should ever be subjected to any harassment, sexual or otherwise and we stand firmly with the victims of all versions of abuse.”

Ask Patrick Brown how good it feels to have a media outlet come after him for page views and ratings.   Ask anyone who’s been accused of anything they don’t have the opportunity to defend how it feels to have their lives taken away from them without the chance to speak.  There are shitpiles of people who deserve not to have that opportunity, but some do.  And that’s due process, and what’s more, common sense.

You can staunchly support the #METOO movement and still have a brain.  Unless it’s more important to get your tweet retweeted by someone to feel great about yourself.  That just makes you a fucken moron.

And Radio stations pulling their music is an outstanding by-product but don’t think program directors are pulling their garbage because they’re great guys.  They knew they would get press for it too and took advantage of it to look like outstanding citizens.

Having said all that Hedley’s statement looks a lot like Jian Ghomeshi’s.

 

Dean Blundell

Dean Blundell is a Canadian radio personality. Best known as a longtime morning host on CFNY-FM (The Edge) in Toronto, Ontario. In 2015 he was named the new morning host on sports radio station CJCL (Sportsnet 590 The Fan). Dean started his career in radio in 2001 and for nearly 20 years been entertaining the radio audience. Dean’s newest venture is the launch of his site and podcast which is gaining tremendous momentum across North America.

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