Raffi Called Out The New Pornographers For Their Name And Their Frontman Did Not Take It Well [Updated]

UPDATE: As Pitchfork reports, Raffi sent an apology to the New Pornographers, saying he “Meant no disrespect to the band, its music, or its fans.” Here’s his full statement:

In a fleeting moment I reacted to a word, which I wrote about in my book Lightweb Darkweb. My Tweet was without context, on a gig night, Not cool. I apologize, Meant no disrespect to the band, its music, or its fans. RC.

Original story below.

In a couple of angry tweets, children’s musician Raffi took to criticizing indie rock darlings the New Pornographers for their name, calling it “as bad as ‘food p**n.'” Yes, this is the same guy who wrote that song “Baby Beluga” that you listened to while sitting in a car seat. Check out Raffi’s thoughts on the subject below.

As it would turn out, New Pornographers frontman Carl Newman caught wind of the tweets, and also took to Twitter to respond to the criticisms and defend his honor in front of his five-year-old son, while also taking some jabs at Raffi. It’s fair to say he didn’t respond with the same grace, that say, someone like Eskimeaux’s Gabrielle Smith showed in the face of recent criticism of her own band name, which she’s opted to change.

Not sure the act of being a parent is really a full stop measure against criticism of your name, and after spending his life working with children, it seems Raffi is more than entitled to his own views on the matter. Though, it does seem clear to most people that the name is a critique of society, not in support of pornography. Here’s to hoping that the two can make up soon enough and that a collaboration is on the horizon, though that doesn’t seem likely so far: