Third Eye Band Teaches the GOPrs Out for a Night a Lesson
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Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind performs during the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
on June 12, 2016 in Manchester, Tenn.
JOSH BRASTED/WIREIMAGE
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90's rock band Third Eye Blind stuck it the manTuesday night when frontman Stephan Jenkins opted to express his frustration with Republican values during a charity concert held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland instead of performing his hits as he had initially agreed to do.
The concert hosted by the Recording Industry Association of America and AT&T was billed as a pro-America event for GOP voters attending the nearby Republican National Convention. But Jenkins soon began lecturing the crowd about LGBT rights.
"We believe in tolerance, acceptance," he said, as the crowd booed, according to multiple media reports. At another point, he taunted the crowd: “Raise your hand if you believe in science."
Jenkins also refused to play many of Third Eye Blind's hits during the 10-song set list, including its alt-rock anthem "Semi-Charmed Life."
"You can boo all you want, but I'm the motherf****** artist up here," Jenkins told the crowd.
The angst continued online.
Witnesses at the group’s Tuesday night show in Cleveland, a charity gig inside the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, reported that Jenkins used the occasion to say he “repudiates” what the Republican party now stands for. Clips uploaded to social media platforms show the crowd booing, followed by Jenkins exclaiming: “You can boo all you want, but I’m the motherf—-in’ artist up here.”"Third Eye Blind is playing new s--- and I am not pleased," tweeted Elizabeth Harrington, a writer for the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website.
After Twitter user Liza White tweeted at the band’s account, “I have never been more disappointed," the verified band’s account snipped back: "Good." the New York Daily News reported. Jenkins did perform the band's hit "Jumper," a story of a gay man committing suicide, while sharing the story of his cousins, who are gay.
"To love this song, is to take into your heart the message and to actually, actually have a feeling to arrive and move forward and not live in fear and imposing that fear onto other people," said Jenkins.
Republican nominee Donald Trump promised a star-studded Republican convention this year, but the star power that showed up was not exactly A-list material. There was Antonio Sabato Jr., a former Calvin Klein model, and golfer Natalie Gulbis. Trump supporters Mike Tyson and NASCAR chairman Brian France decided to skip the event.
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