Viet Cong Finally Changing Name After Accusations of Racism and Cultural Appropriation

The Canadian post-punk group, Viet Cong, released a statement this weekend stating the band will soon change its name following further claims of racism and cultural appropriation.

Viet Cong, made up of all white members Matt Flegel, Mike Wallace, Scott Munro and Daniel Christiansen, first received public criticism for adopting the name of the Northern Vietnamese army unit back in March when a concert promoter at Oberlin college cancelled the show due to the band's "grossly ignorant and deeply offensive" name. The promoter even penned a lengthy apology letter to the school's Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American communities, according to Stereogum.

Further criticism came from fellow Canadian post-punk band Ought and April Aliermo of Toronto bands Hooded Fang and Phèdre in the form of a Reddit AMA and an open letter to Exclaim! about whiteness and why the name is offensive.

In a statement posted on Viet Cong's official Facebook page, the band said they had been planning on changing the name for some months now but still haven't come up with the name they want.

"We rushed into our last band name decision, we don't plan to rush into this one, but know that will be rolling out a new name as soon as we agree upon one," they wrote in the statement, which you can read in full here.

Over the course of the band's 130 show tour in the past year, the group said they've had many conversations about the name and after much deliberation have decided to change it because of its deep meaning to so many people in the Vietnamese community.

"Art and music are about creative expression," the band wrote. "However, our band name is not our cause, and we are not going to fight for it. This is not what our band is about."

It's good to know they are striking the problematic name and we can get back to enjoying their music. Watch the video for "Silhouettes" below.