Andrew W.K. still has his sights set on bringing his positive partying message to the Middle East despite no longer being scheduled to appear as a Cultural Ambassador for the US Government. In a recent interview with Spinner, Andrew W.K. said that, although disappointed by the US State Department’s decision to drop him, he is not discouraged and has been invited directly by Bahrain.
“In the face of a lot of disappointment and confusion there has been an incredible amount of support, especially from Bahrain. They’ve now invited me personally, regardless of whether or not my own country wants me to go, and we’re actively working on that,” Andrew W.K. told Spinner.
“I was so proud and honoured, and humbled at the same time to be able to go there formally with the State Department’s invitation. But just because they changed their minds at the last second doesn’t mean that we still can’t go, so we actually are working on that and we’re very thankful and very moved by the kindness of the Bahrainis.”
As noted by NME, Andrew W.K. has still not been given an official reason as to why his trip was cancelled by the US State Department. Publicly, a spokesperson from the US State Department stated that “the embassy determined that [Andrew W.K.] was probably not a best choice and didn’t meet our standards”. However, Andrew thinks that superficial factors led to the change of mind.
“A snap judgment was made, and someone judged the way I looked or the type of music that I made,” W.K. told Spinner.
