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Warped Tour Founder Responds To Criticism For Allowing Pro-Life Booth At The Fest

A controversial subject

A controversial subject

While the annual Warped Tour has been considered for many years a "safe space" for punk and metal teens, the last few years have been marred by a bit of controversy. In 2014 and last year, there were accusations of sexual abuse which led to bands being banned from tour. This year, the controversy seems to be over one of the allowed vendors.

Several fans have taken to Twitter to complain about the inclusion of a conservative group called "Rock For Life," which is an anti-choice and sell "All Lives Matter" t-shirts, although its unclear if the t-shirts are meant to be against the Black Lives Matter movement, or implying that all lives, even pre-born ones matter. Here are the designs:

The item getting the most controversy is a sticker board that they display, where Warped Tour fans can mark at what point they believe a baby's life begins:

The band Sorority Noise summed up the board nicely:

Interestingly, Warped Tour did not at all advertise Rock For Life anywhere on their sites or their vendor lists. After a few sites picked up the story, tour founder Kevin Lyman responded to the criticisms:

I commend Lyman for even addressing the topic, when most would ignore it, and for inviting pro choice groups onto the tour. Although, I can't imagine any group has the resources at this point to pick up and hop on a traveling festival at a moment's notice. The invitation should've been made before the tour, although I'm sure Lyman had bigger issues to consider at the time.

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