Die Antwoord removed from festivals after video of homophobic comments against Hercules & Love Affair's Andy Butler surface

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  • The video was filmed at Australia's Future Music festival in 2012.
  • Die Antwoord removed from festivals after video of homophobic comments against Hercules & Love Affair's Andy Butler surface image
  • A disturbing video of an altercation between Die Antwoord and Hercules & Love Affair's Andy Butler has surfaced. The 2012 clip, which was filmed at the Future Music Festival in Adelaide, Australia, was uploaded by Die Antwoord's former videographer Ben Crossman. It depicts the group's Ninja, real name Watkin Tudor Jones, and Yolandi Visser attacking Butler before chasing him down, yelling homophobic slurs and threatening the H&LA frontman. Die Antwoord then appear to flag down several festival staffers to accuse Butler of sexual harassment, stating he groped Visser in a portable toilet. Jones praises Visser, who appears to be crying, for an "Oscar-award winning" performance. Content warning: The following video contains homophobic and racial slurs.
    Since the video has gone viral, Die Antwoord have been removed from two US festivals. Louisville, Kentucky festival Louder Than Life announced the South African rap duo's removal from the September bill due to "unforeseen circumstances," while a Reddit user posted a message they claim is from Vegas's Life Is Beautiful festival that states Die Antwoord have been removed from the lineup. On Sunday, Die Antwoord responded to the video and denied the attack on Butler was a hate crime. Ninja accuses Butler of continual harassment and the videographer Crossman of committing the assault on Butler.
    Ben [Crossman] has cleverly edited this video clip to make it seem like me and Yolandi commited [sic] a hate crime towards a person because they are gay. However, Ben beat up the guy from Hercules himself while filming this same video clip. This was just a fight with someone who fucked with us. Not a hate crime. This fight had nothing to with the fact that this guy was gay. We don't care about people's sexual preference. Our DJ and best friend DJ HITEK is gay, and a lot of people in our crew are gay.
    See Ninja's original post. Resident Advisor has reached out to Andy Butler for comment. We will update this story if we hear back. This story has been updated throughout.
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