UPDATE (12:40pm 6/9): Ten Walls has also been dropped from the Mysteryland Netherlands lineup.
“At Mysteryland we celebrate love, we stimulate diversity and we give everybody the opportunity to be the person they want to be.
The homophobic expressions by Ten Walls, who was booked for Mysteryland Netherlands this August, do not fit that vision.
Therefor we have cancelled his gig at Mysteryland Netherlands, and will refrain from booking him at any upcoming Mysteryland editions around the world.”
Lithuanian producer Ten Walls (also known by the stage name Mario Basanov and his given name Marijus Adomaitis), famous for his UK Chart topping hit “Walking with Elephants,” has found himself completely disowned from the dance music scene following homophobic comments he made on his Facebook last week. Adomaitis has come under fire from all areas of the industry, being dropped from major festival lineups including Creamfields and PITCH Festival and boycotted by fellow DJs, who are now refusing to share gigs with him or play his music.
The controversy began when a gay-oriented news site Gay Star News picked up on a post on Marijus’ personal Facebook, which translated from Lithuanian stated:
I remember producing music for one Lithuanian musician, who tried to wash my brain that I don’t need to be so conservative and intolerant about them. When I asked him “what would you do if you realized that your 16-year-old son’s browny (anus) is ripped by his boyfriend?” Well he was silent.
He also went on to refer to homosexuals as “people of a different breed” and blamed homosexuality for the sexual assault scandals amongst Catholic priests. As the story went viral, Adomaitis eventually deleted the post and issued an apology via his personal account, as well as his Ten Walls fan page, but by then the damage had already been done.
Last week I wrote a Facebook post that was wrong and completely out of character and the result was a badly written post that was unacceptable. It was never my intention to offend anyone. I’m really saddened by everything that has happened and I would like to apologise to everyone I’ve let down, especially to my friends in the gay community, and my fans.
I now need to take a break and have cancelled my upcoming shows.
Posted by Ten Walls on Monday, June 8, 2015
Almost overnight, he was dropped from the rosters of Creamfields, PITCH Festival, Sónar, Urban Arts Form, and HARD Summer with each festival issuing a statement denouncing the comments.
Hi Everybody,
In light of recent comments made by Ten Walls on his Facebook regarding homosexuality, we have decided to cancel Ten Walls’ show at PITCH festival.
We want to make very clear that PITCH is a festival for everyone, and we are against any form of discrimination whatsoever, on and off our festivalsite. Comments like these are so far from our beliefs that it wouldn’t make any sense to have this act playing our festival.Of course we are trying to find a suitable replacement for Ten Walls in the schedule.
Best, and love,
Martin | PITCHPosted by PITCH Festival on Monday, June 8, 2015
There will be no Ten Walls at #HSMF15 this year after his verbal attacks against a community we support to the fullest here at HARD Events.
— HARD SUMMER (@HARDFEST) June 8, 2015
British DJ Fort Romeau, who was slated to support Ten Walls’ November gig at Koko in London, issued a statement that he would be canceling his appearance, saying:
Its easy to romanticise electronic music culture and imagine it as a bastion of social liberalism and progressive ideology but the reality is that it simply reflects the larger social context where homophobia and (particularly) sexism are normalised and worse, codified into law … while cancelling one gig is hardly going to change the world, it does stand as a personal rejection of bigotry, fear and intolerance.
The backlash doesn’t end with cancelled gigs either, as Ten Walls has found his music all but blacklisted, with Phonica Records cancelling all pre-orders of his next album Sparta, stating on their website, “We wont be stocking this record anymore due to Mario Basanov aka Ten Walls’ homophobic comments over the weekend. If you have pre-ordered it, your pre-order has been cancelled and money refunded.” Fellow DJs were also quick to denounce Adomaitis, applauding the decision by major festivals to drop him from their lineups and vowing to delete all traces of his music from their own libraries.
Just deleting every track of ten walls ! I will not support any music of an homophobic musician! — Monika Kruse (@MonikaKruse) June 8, 2015
iTunes > search > ten walls > select all > delete
— Lane 8 (@Lane8music) June 7, 2015
His booking agency, Coda Music, has also confirmed in a statement that they will no longer represent Ten Walls and have since pulled his profile from their website.
