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Michelle Shocked Dropped from Telluride Bleugrass Lineup after Alleged Anti-Gay Rant (Many Venues Have Done The Same)

Yesterday the Telluride Bluegrass Festival announced that the Drepung Monks would join the 2013 lineup replacing the scheduled collaboration between Michelle Shocked and the Campbell Brothers. This follows a wake of cancellations after Shocked reportedly told an audience on Sunday night at Yoshi’s in San Francisco, “When they stop Prop 8 and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization, and Jesus will come back…You can go on Twitter and say, ‘Michelle Shocked says God hates (anti-gay slur).’”

Initially, Planet Bluegrass, which promotes the event, posted a Facebook message which stated:

Dear Festivarians… We are carefully considering the status of Michelle Shocked at the upcoming 40th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

We certainly do not condone any of Michelle’s reported statements from her 3/17 performance. But given our 20-year relationship with Michelle (and our festival being 6 weeks later than her other US performances), we are taking a little extra time to confirm all the facts (beyond the 3rd party news stories) before making a final decision.

We appreciate everyone’s thoughtful Facebook comments, emails, and phone calls regarding the situation. We especially welcome comments from people who were personally in attendance at Michelle’s 3/17 performance.

Planet Bluegrass likely received a barrage of such feedback as the announcement that Shocked had been replaced, appeared just a few hours later.

At this point it appears that nearly all of her upcoming shows have been cancelled (The HopMonk Tavern in Novato, CA, for example, posted on its website, “Due to comments made by Michelle Shocked at Yoshi’s in San Francisco last night, March 17, we have decided to cancel our show here with Michelle on Friday March 29. Refunds can be made at place of purchase.”)