The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol held its seventh public hearing today (July 12). During the hearing, Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesperson for the far-right group Oath Keepers, wore a Descendents T-shirt — and the band is not having it.
Photos and clips from the hearing have gone viral on the internet throughout the day that show Van Tatenhove wearing the shirt, which more specifically commemorates the punk rockers’ fifth studio album Everything Sucks.
“Bold move wearing a Descendents Everything Sucks shirt to the January 6 hearing,” a user on Twitter wrote. They then made a parody of the band’s album Milo Goes to College, writing, “Milo goes to Congress,” and another user pointed out that he also sported a pin featuring the logo from Deftones‘ White Pony.
Descendents, in turn, posted a brief statement regarding the matter on their social media.
“We completely disavow groups like the Oath Keepers and in no way condone their hateful ideology,” they wrote.
Oath Keepers are one of the militia groups that were responsible for the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in addition to the Proud Boys and Three Percenters. According to The Hill, Van Tatenhove got involved with the Oath Keepers in 2014. He essentially became their publicist and social media manager for two years before walking away from the group because he wasn’t allowed to write about topics that leader Stewart Rhodes didn’t agree with, including expressing support for the 2015 Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage.
“I had these grand intentions that I was going to write my break-out novel, but what wound up happening is I just became a propagandist for them,” Van Tatenhove told the Denver Post. “I failed that internal mission pretty fantastically.”
He was summoned as a witness to testify during the hearing and “give a historical perspective on the group,” but claimed that he “purged [his] life of that world years ago.” [via NPR].
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