Otep Responds to Contract Ploy Allegations by ‘Civil Unrest’ Tour Organizers
This year's "Civil Unrest" tour is living up to its name, with both Otep and Terror Universal exiting the tour that kicks off June 2 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
As reported yesterday, Otep Shamaya said she did not want to be on the bill with Terror Universal because of an incident on a prior tour in which she alleges that the vocalist of the support act “violently grabbed my crotch.”
Shamaya wrote a post on Facebook about the reasons for exiting the tour. In response, the wife of Terror Universal's vocalist also posted on Facebook. And the organizers of the "Civll Unrest" tour posted their own statement that suggested that the accusations were part of a contractual ploy by Otep.
Part of the tour organizers' statement says, "We would never stand for or beside the kind of behavior that Otep is falsely accusing others of perpetrating. What we do support is the TRUTH. The truth is that Otep’s business team confirmed Otep for this tour for certain financial terms and Otep’s team breached their own agreement after the announcement and attempted to blackmail and extort the agency responsible for the tour with slanderous defamation threats against the agency, the bands and all parties involved, in an attempt to secure more money…"
As for the "Civil Unrest" tour that kicks off June 2, more bands have been announced. In addition to Ill Nino, Kittie and 36 Crazyfists, other bands on the trek include Davey Suicide, Motograter, Thira, Lydia Can't Breathe and Darkc3ll.
Artists appearing on some of the dates include Unloco, Gabriel Apocalypse, The Convalescence, Erasing Never, Xiting the System and Happy Accidents. Dates for the tour can be found at this location.