Image: Facebook

Dillinger Escape Plan Are Baiting Homophobes With Their New Merch

New Jersey mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan have released what they call “the “gayest” shirt of all time by any band,” to hit back any homophobic fans they may have, after a tumultuous week on social media which included plagiarism claims and open homophobia.

Following the US Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of marriage equality, the band have been extremely vocal with their support of the issue. Earlier in the week they released a t-shirt which appropriated a Future Zine badge. The image is the same that appears on the badge, however, they added a rainbow flag and altered the shirts on the arms.

The band pledged to donate 50 percent of the profits of that t-shirt to The Trevor Project – a national organisation that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ people.

“The ruling on same-sex marriage the other day was a major step for the LGBTQ community, and for humanity in general, but there is still a lot of work to be done to both combat and help deal with discrimination,” they wrote on their Facebook.

The band’s good deed, however, backfired when Facebook users started to criticise them for ripping the design from Future Zine. “Way to jack a design. All while making yourselves look like great people. Support this cause, but do so supporting artists…,” one user wrote.

It forced the band to make a follow-up post explaining that since releasing the shirts they had been “hammered” by Future Zine for using the design.

“We of all people obviously have no interest in stealing art. We brought attention to him, we linked to his store, etc. We thought the two people clasping hands was a powerful image,” they wrote.

However, strewn among those comments criticising the band of plagiarism, there were also a number of homophobic comments, which leads us to why they have released what they have called “the gayest shirt of all time by any band.”

The rainbow coloured shirt is their second piece of merch released this week following the plagiarism saga. It features “a Pegasus, with a cock for a horn, ejaculating a giant rainbow,” as the band aptly put it.

After seeing comments from fans who were disappointed by the band’s stance on gay marriage, they released the shirt to “violently weed those people out of our fanbase.”

It’s been a long and no doubt frustrating ride for The Dillinger Escape Plan this last week, but it seems they have finally hit the nail on the head with his rainbow coloured masterpiece, which you can own for yourself, while also donating to The Trevor Project, by heading here.

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