Talib Kweli Cancels Norway Show Due to Booking of Allegedly Racist Band Taake

Matthew Strauss
Updated
Kweli previously canceled a U.S. concert due to booking of the Norwegian black metal band

Talib Kweli and Brazilian rapper NIKO IS have canceled a concert tonight (November 19) at Oslo, Norway’s Rockefeller Music Hall because the venue is hosting a performance from Norwegian black metal band Taake next year. Kweli tweeted today, “Seems like [Rockefeller] values Nazi bands over me so yea it’s looking like it’s cancelled. What you can do is ask the ppl at Rockerfeller Oslo why they would rather invite Nazis than black artists into their venue. It’s a bad look for the city.” He added in a subsequent tweet, “Rockerfeller is inviting Nazis in their home. If you invite Nazis in your home you support Nazis. I don’t go to places that support Nazis and fuck you for demanding I do.” He also accused the venue of refusing to speak with him.

Taake’s appearance, scheduled for April 19, 2019, is part of Inferno Metal Festival Norway—a four-day event that includes shows at Rockefeller. Pitchfork has contacted representatives for Taake, Rockefeller Music Hall, and Inferno Metal Festival Norway.

Earlier this year, Talib Kweli canceled a show at Kansas City, Missouri’s Riot Room because the venue had booked Taake to perform. The Riot Room canceled Taake’s show, and Taake ultimately canceled their U.S. tour, releasing a statement in which they wrote that they are “not now, [have] never been, and never will be a Nazi band.”

In 2007, Taake frontman Hoest performed with a swastika drawn on his chest. The band also has lyrics that have been seen as anti-Muslim. In 2013, Hoest performed while wearing a shirt with an anti-Islamic symbol, plus an iron cross necklace.

Hoest has repeatedly denied claims of his band’s ties to white nationalism. In a February 2018 interview with Metal Insider, he said, “Presenting us as ‘Neo Nazi,’ ‘openly racist,’ ‘wearing swastikas’ (in plural, like it’s a habit of mine), etc. are just plain lies. And ‘islamophobic?’ A phobia is an irrational mental illness. So quite the contrary, religion is an irrational mental illness.”