John Farnham joins Jimmy Barnes in insisting Reclaim Australia stop using his songs at their rallies
RECLAIM Australia is fast running out of local music to play at their rallies with John Farnham now insisting they stop using You’re the Voice.
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JOHN Farnham has joined Jimmy Barnes in insisting Reclaim Australia stop using their songs at their race-fuelled rallies.
Farnham’s manager Glenn Wheatley said the use of You’re the Voice by Reclaim Australia was “disgusting”.
“John and I seriously oppose the use of John’s song at the rallies,” Wheatley said today. “It no way reflects our support in any way. There are other means to conduct protests. Just don’t use our song or Jimmy Barnes’ or Lee Kernaghans’.”
Wheatley has successfully pulled videos from YouTube where You’re the Voice was used to soundtrack ISIS footage.
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“The use was disgusting as it showed the decapitation of those poor souls who lost their lives,” Wheatley said. “It was absolutely sickening to see those images to the entire song of You’re the Voice.”
Country singer Kernaghan, whose song Spirit of the Anzacs was also heard at Reclaim Australia rallies over the weekend, was unavailable for comment today.
Reclaim Australia has now reluctantly agreed to stop using Cold Chisel’s Khe Sanh and other Barnes-sung songs at their rallies.
The group even expressed sadness that the chart topper has “mistaken” them for being racist, however some of their supporters are now calling for a boycott of Barnes.
“We are deeply saddened at the news of Jimmy Barnes asking us not to play his songs at our rallies,” the group wrote on Facebook after Barnes’ posted his open letter stating “none of these people represent me and I do not support them.”
Reclaim Australia told Barnes ”you have mistakenly believed incorrect news reports that Reclaim Australia is a racist group. This is not true ... Inevitably at our rallies we unfortunately have some fanatics and we have tried our best to have them removed. We are and will continue to support you privately as you are an Aussie Icon, however if it’s your wish, we will no longer play your songs at our rallies.”
Barnes’ son David Campbell today tweeted his support for his father.
“I could not be more proud to be his son today,” he wrote.
Reclaim Australia’s Facebook page is now full of angry supporters lashing out at Barnes, who posted an open letter yesterday saying “none of these people represent me and I do not support them.”
Read my Dad's letter here. I could not be more proud to be his son today. https://t.co/7kLZslgUOB
— David Campbell (@DavidCampbell73) July 21, 2015
“Boycott Barnes,” wrote Liesel Finlayson. “He has no clue, like the rest of them just jumps to the conclusion that we are racists and bigots without even trying to understand what we are fighting for!!!”
Lyn Keehn wrote “Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy, I hope your family’s future generations forgive your decision, whilst they are adjusting their Burkas to fit in to the atrocities that will occur under siege. Lost my vote. Jimmy Who !!!! Tsk tsk tsk.”
John Nancarrow wrote “I’ve never had any time for Jimmy Barnes anyway. He’s got his eye on record sales and doesn’t want to get anyone off-side.”
Marilyn Stewart wrote “He must be very comfortable in all that clover and no longer has need of his fans — big mistake Barnsie.”
Dannielle White said “Hope to god u r going to boycott this d — kheads music at future rally’s” while Warren Bradley added “What a ignorant bigot Jimmy Barnes you are a uninformed d — khead. And I personally hated all of your screaming that was supposed to be a song.”
However at least one person on the page read Barnes’ open letter and noted “At no point did Jimmy call anyone racist. He said he supports tolerance, that is all. Well done guys for missing the point.”
Barnes’ passionate letter read “The Australia I belong to and love is a tolerant Australia. A place that is open and giving. It is a place that embraces all sorts of different people, in fact is made stronger by the diversity of its people.”
He today declined to comment further on the issue.
Other songs that sparked a protest (from the musician)
- John Schumann, from Redgum, spoke out in April against Reclaim Australia performing his song ‘I was only 19’ at a rally.
- Australian rapper 360 (otherwise known as Matthew Colwell) released a single On a Planet No One Knows last year, addressing racism in Australia, and has spoken out against racist fans during performances.
- Neil Young objected to Donald Trump using Rockin in the Free World to launch his presidential campaign last month.
- The Foo Fighters asked John McCain to stop playing ‘My Hero’ during his 2008 presidential campaign.
- Singer Tom Petty objected to Republican candidate Michele Bachmann using American Girl during a rally in 2011. He had also asked former president George W Bush to cease using I Won’t Back Down during his presidential campaign in 2000.
- Bruce Springsteen famously asked Ronald Reagan to stop playing Born in the USA during his 1984 campaign.
Originally published as John Farnham joins Jimmy Barnes in insisting Reclaim Australia stop using his songs at their rallies
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