KAISER, Mo. — Any Juggalos who show up at Crybaby Campgrounds on Aug. 6 will be missing the concert.
The hip-hop band Insane Clown Posse had been slated to come to the venue from Aug. 6–9, bringing up to 10,000 fans, called “Juggalos,” with them. But the band has announced that concert will no longer be in Kaiser, citing pressure from the community after news of the planned event first broke.
The band had dubbed the venue “Harlequin Park,” and deflected blame for the move away from Crybaby Campground owner Bee Enowsky.
“We also want to add that the owners of the campground did not have a problem with the Gathering being held on their property and have mad love for all people, including Juggalos,” the band said in its blog, adding “[T]hey have been nothing but supportive, kind hearted and open minded. They also fully understood what the Gathering was and were fully willing to welcome us with open arms.”
The community, however, began to “raise hell,” the band said, adding, “[W]e heard reports that some people were starting to arm themselves. Unbelievable!”
The band also claims the campground ownership was receiving “non-stop calls from angry neighbors,” that boycotts were threatened, and that a petition had been started.
Enowsky could not be immediately reached for comment.
Negative reports about Juggalos accompanied the story—which made national news outlets—that the annual Gathering of the Juggalos would be moving from its former location in Illinois to the Kaiser, Mo. campground. Included among those were reports of the FBI’s labeling of the band and its followers as a “gang”—a designation over which the band’s label, Psychopathic Records, along with the ACLU have sued the FBI.
The band pointed to that situation as one of the likely reasons for the Lake community’s response.
However, the group declined to address any of the reports about Juggalos, when news of the Kaiser concert first broke, only telling LakeExpo.com, “We have no comment.”
The label had also included in its contract with Enowsky a section which prohibited her from speaking to the news media.
According to the band, ticket sales for the concert at Crybaby Campgrounds had “far surpassed those of the past several Gatherings.” Those will be refunded in full, the group said.
The event has not been cancelled, but Insane Clown Posse is seeking a new location, saying, “[We] have a couple places already lined up.”
