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Music

Brooklyn Venues Are Boycotting the Band Whose Drummer Defended the Stanford Rapist

The all-girl band Good English has been kicked off of five concert bills after the band's drummer wrote a notorious letter standing up for convict Brock Turner.
An album cover for the indie band Good English. Photo via Bandcamp.

UPDATE 6/7/16: Good English has reinstated its Facebook page and Leslie has responded to the controversy with a statement. Read it here.

Indie band Good English has been kicked off five concert bills at four venues in Brooklyn after its drummer wrote a now-notorious letter defending convicted sexual assailant and former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner's character, as Gothamist reports.

Due to recent information brought to our attention, Good English is no longer playing Northside Festival.

— Northside Festival (@NorthsideFest)June 7, 2016

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In her letter, Leslie Rasmussen essentially attributed Turner being found thrusting on top of an unconscious woman behind a dumpster to "clouded judgment." She also implicitly criticized the sexual assault victim, who she wrote "doesn't remember anything but the amount she drank."

Rasmussen also took pains to call out political correctness on college campuses and suggested the whole thing was just a "huge misunderstanding."

The musician—who plays drums in the Ohio-born band with her sisters Elizabeth and Celia—was set to play shows Friday through Sunday at Brooklyn venues Matchless, Rock Shop, Indie City Distillery, and Gold Sounds. (Rasmussen and Turner apparently graduated from the same Oakwood, Ohio, high school together in 2014.)

After the wave of backlash and the show cancelations, Good English deleted its Facebook page, and while the band's tour may continue, it's hard to see how the group can get the focus back on the music and away from its drummer's odd choice of friends.

Read: The Horrible Things the Stanford Rapist's Friends and Family Said in His Defense