Descendents Respond to Former Oath Keeper Sporting Band T-Shirt During Jan. 6 Hearing

Publish date: 2024-08-18

During today’s testimonials for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a former spokesman for the far-right militia Oath Keepers delivered his statements while sporting a T-shirt for punk band the Descendents. In response, the band tweeted: “We completely disavow groups like the Oath Keepers and in no way condone their hateful ideology.”

We completely disavow groups like the Oath Keepers and in no way condone their hateful ideology.

— DESCENDENTS (@descendents) July 12, 2022

Many people flocked to social media to show their distaste for Jason Van Tatenhove’s attire (he was also wearing a Deftones pin) and pointed to the hypocrisy of the move.

The longtime Los Angeles hardcore punk band is known for its irreverent songs about farting and nerds, but also addresses political topics in songs like “‘Merican,” which condemn slavery and the Vietnam war.

Damon Krukowski, former Galaxie 500 member and writer, tweeted: “[Representative] Jamie Raskin [of Maryland] promoted a Mission of Burma show on Harvard campus my freshman year, 1981. It’s possible these are the only two in the room who know the Descendents.”

Another Twitter user wrote, “[Descendents] do not stand for what he stands for. Dude needs to give another listen to their song ‘‘Merican.'”

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Jamie Raskin promoted a Mission of Burma show on Harvard campus my freshman year, 1981. It’s possible these are the only two in the room who know the Descendants pic.twitter.com/1ER33ZUz12

— Damon K (@dada_drummer) July 12, 2022

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Van Tatenhove testified before the House committee about the Jan. 6 insurrection against the United States government, telling the congressional committee that “we’ve gotten exceedingly lucky that more bloodshed did not happen” on that day.

According to MSNBC, Van Tatenhove said he “fears for the next election cycle,” and believes that if Trump were to run again in 2024, he may incite further violence. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is set to go on trial for seditious conspiracy for the Jan. 6 insurrection.

To conclude, Van Tatenhove described the Oath Keepers as a “dangerous” organization and said he left the group when he discovered some of the members were Holocaust deniers.

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