Music

Insane Clown Posse are organizing a political Juggalo march

by Richard Howard

Following an expansive, near-month long Canadian tour, the Insane Clown Posse had less than a week to relax before putting on the massive festival they call their Super Bowl last weekend: The Gathering of The Juggalos. As with every instalment of the fest, there was no doubt oodles of crazy shit that went down, but the biggest news coming out of the event was the announcement by Shaggy and Violent J that, on September 17th 2017, ICP is planning a march on Washington to protest the FBI’s classification of their Juggalo fan base as a gang.

In an interview with AUX before their June 30th Toronto gig, the rappers spoke at length about their battle with the FBI, explaining the lawsuit they filed against the federal agency is more for their fans than for themselves. As Shaggy put it:

How it affects us the most is just financial, which is whatever. Who gives a fuck, it’s not like we’re hurting. How it’s affecting other people is insane. People losing their jobs, people losing their kids. People getting kicked out of the army, people going to jail. Just people getting fucked over left and right.

While the list released in 2011 classifying Juggalos as a ‘hybrid gang’ officially no longer exists, ICP maintain that their fans are still negatively affected, and are demanding “a public statement saying Juggalos are not a gang.”

Their case, which was initially dismissed, was reinstated on appeal – and will now be backed by a planned Washington march. Beginning at The Lincoln Memorial, it will continue down Constitution Avenue to the Washington Monument, where artists and fans will speak about what it means to be a Juggalo.

The group will also play a free show at Jiffy Lube Live amphitheatre (no, not a Jiffy Lube, as amazing as that would have been) that same weekend in Bristow, Virginia, and they’re planning to host a free picnic for fans the morning after the march, which coincides with the International Day of Democracy.

Violent J spoke pragmatically about the event, saying: “We don’t know what’s going to happen. We could totally embarrass ourselves, and there could be 25 people (that show up).” Of course, being more familiar with the passion of Juggalos better than any of us, there’s no chance he believes that. We certainly don’t.

On September 17th, 2017, Washington D.C. could straight up have a Million Clown March on their hands. Picture that for a second – the Honorable U.S. Senator from Lafayette, Indiana getting his first glimpse of a Juggalo as one of thousands angrily marching towards him.

Yep. Awesome. [h/t to The Detroit News]