With Paris still reeling from a series of tragic terror attacks over the weekend, a group of music fans have ignited controversy after launching a campaign to help Eagles of Death Metal hit the top of the UK singles chart.
As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, the campaign, dubbed ‘Eagles of Death Metal For No. 1’, has been slammed as “disgusting” and in “very poor taste” as it comes so soon after the deaths of 129 people in the attacks.
The first of the string of terror attacks took place at a sold-out performance by Eagles of Death Metal at the Bataclan music venue. Two gunmen opened fire on the crowd gathered inside, killing 118 people, including crew member Nick Alexander.
‘Eagles of Death Metal For No. 1‘ is calling on fans to download the band’s cover of Duran Duran’s ‘Save a Prayer’ in order to send the song to the top of the UK singles chart and show “solidarity against terrorism and support for peace”.
At the time of writing, the campaign’s Facebook page has more than 6,000 likes and within 24 hours of launching, ‘Save a Prayer’ had reached the fourth spot on the Amazon chart and the iTunes UK rock chart.
However, the campaign has drawn a considerable amount of criticism for being “inappropriate” in light of the Paris attacks. “Very poor taste to use such a tragedy to propel sales and a drive for a chart topping status,” one fan wrote.
Some critics of the campaign also suggested the money fans are spending on purchasing the band’s single would be better spent going towards the families of the victims affected by the tragedy or the Red Cross.
“People died. Promoting music ‘in the name of solidarity’ is sick,” another commenter wrote. “Thriving off this is disgusting, raising funds to go towards those who were affected would be more appropriate.”
“I don’t see anywhere about the crew member that was killed. You cannot promote a track so soon after the event,” wrote another. “This page has mentioned very little about supporting those who were involved in the events.”
“Taking advantage upon an unfortunate event. Definitely poor taste.” The group defended the campaign in a statement, writing, “We’re not making any money out of this, we want to make a statement of support”.
“Just to reiterate, we’re looking to do this as a bunch of EoDM fans in a respectful united demonstration of support for the band and those affected by the horrific ordeal in Paris this week. The No.1 would show that us in the UK cares deeply,” they later added.
