…reduced to rubble
Words by DJ Paulette
In the same week that Caitlyn Jenner took the world by storm and set the LGBTi networks on fire, the mighty Lithuanian Marijus Adomaitis aka Mario Basanov aka Ten Walls has cancelled his upcoming shows and is taking a much needed break from a similarly searing spotlight. Their experiences are the polar opposite of the same scale of empowerment, equality and justice that has been orchestrated, directed and influenced by the world wide web. As popularity contests go, Ten Walls is not winning. There are no medals or posts of support, courage or bravery for him. Within the last twenty four hours the Ten Walls artist page has become a nightmare notice board losing fifty percent of ‘likes’ overnight. On any normal day, just one of those ‘angry punter’ posts would have the Facebook administrators reaching for their ‘block’ button on Ten Walls’ behalf but none of this vicious backlash is being monitored or taken down. At the same time, the witch hunt has run rampant through his socials: his Discogs page has been artistically reworked, his YouTube page artfully redubbed and the invisible internet troll army (no matter what the reason, a troll is still a troll) is making its hawk-eyed, unforgiving presence and power felt.
https://www.facebook.com/Mariobasanov?fref=ts
http://www.residentadvisor.net/feed-item.aspx?id=86812
https://twitter.com/TenWallsMusic
https://soundcloud.com/tenwallsmusic
What was once ‘simple’ Twitter rage has now become an elephantine stampede against Ten Walls’ ugly, unwarranted and unexpected homophobic tirade citing gay people as: ‘people of different breed [sic]’ and likening LGBTi to paedophiles. He quickly removed his offensive status update but before he could click ‘empty trash’ it was translated and printed in Gay Star News where it stands as a towering testament to his lack of understanding, empathy and compassion. It is also a permanent, high hit rate thorn in the side of a public figure whose career has now reached an all time low, tainted by his rash online behaviour, thoughtlessness, ignorance and homophobia.
Even before he decided to cancel his shows, organisers the world over were rallying behind the gay community. Key shows – Creamfields, Sonar and PITCH all made their stance by cancelling the artist from their line ups, explaining their actions as rejection of such blatant intolerance that they consider out of sync with their spirit of positivity and inclusion. Added to this, his booking agency CODA has released a public statement saying they no longer represent the artist. Fort Romeau (DJ / Producer) has refused to play alongside him, cancelling his November show at KOKO in London with this explanation:
https://www.facebook.com/fortromeau/posts/953033084742154:0
While cancelling one gig is hardly going to change the world, it does stand as a personal rejection of bigotry, fear and intolerance.
Ten Walls continues to burn bridges as the LGBTi community together with the support of countless music industry movers and shakers, DJs and artists is continuing to make its voice heard:
https://www.facebook.com/TenWalls/posts/583286488476836
Ronald Den Hardtog “I’d rather that my son will come home with the message that he’s gay than my daughter with a prick like you. You deserved this. Cry.”
Jave Dacko “Rather the shows were cancelled because these festivals no longer want to be associated with a narrow minded bigot. Career suicide, good luck with the rest of your life, washing cars.”
Guy Williams “You can tell you don’t really mean your apology to say “my friends in the gay community AND my fans” what does this mean? You think you don’t have any gay fans!!? You’re a homophobic idiot that keeps digging yourself a bigger hole, you are only cancelling shows because you are already being cancelled.”
Sam Mesg “You make awesome music, but your thoughts about gay rights are simply unacceptable. Music is universal and must be open for everyone, whether you’re black, white, gay, straight, Jewish, Asian, man, woman or any other kind of race/religion/gender or sexual orientation. So, for me, you don’t deserve to be part of this scene anymore.”
Monika Poškutė “I am ashamed you are a Lithuanian musician! For once I thought we had a music artist who has what it takes to be international and acknowledged. Now I see that you are a twat that does not understand his position. What, you thought you’ll write a homophobic post and that it’ll slip by? Guess again, it’s actually destroying your career as we speak. And for the record of marketing, deleting comments does not solve your case. It just drowns you into more disdain regarding the people that surround you. Good luck climbing out of this deeeeep hole you dug yourself.”
…
I’ve reviewed, bought and happily played Ten Walls records in the past. I’ve always thought that he is a fantastic producer and the cold reality is that nothing will – or should – ever take that away from him. His records are good – and no matter how negative our personal and political associations are – they always will be. The body of work he has produced so far has been exemplary. Still, I won’t be adding another release to basket in the foreseeable future, simply because my conscience won’t let me. Will there be another release after ‘Blue Orphan’? Who knows? The social network is baying for blood and it looks like they might get their way.
Is it a fair result? He has apologised numerous times, distancing himself from his own views but this could be too little too late.
