System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian recently took to Instagram to urge Imagine Dragons to call off their show in Baku, Azerbaijan this coming September. His caption read:
“Now it has to be said. A few months ago, it came to my attention that Imagine Dragons had planned a show on Sept 2 in Baku, Azerbaijan. I was sure they were unaware that Azerbaijan’s petro-oligarchic dictatorial regime was starving 120k people in Nagorno-Karaba, which is now being called a Genocide by the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo.”
The singer added that he sent the band a ‘private letter’ but heard nothing back. He expressed:
“So through representatives, I sent them a kind letter urging them to reconsider playing their show in Azerbaijan as it would help whitewash the dictatorial regime’s image there. I included various articles, including one by Amnesty Int’l who I was told they have worked with in the past. There was no response. No answer, no response.”
Serj went on to explain why he had to publicly call out Imagine Dragons by saying:
“As the humanitarian crisis worsens in Nagorno-Karabagh with starvation already being recorded I am forced to publicize this letter and their disregard for this humanitarian catastrophe. Maybe they felt they had a legal liability to play the show, maybe they just don’t care.”
The frontman also shared where he stands with the ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ that is going on in Azerbaijan. He continued:
“My whole life I have been an advocate for genocide recognition and have always said there has to be a price to pay for Genocidal regimes or deniers. Another genocide is looming by Azerbaijan and while this happens they get to enjoy an American band from LV. F*ck that! That’s not right.”
He also added a change.org petition that people could sign in his caption that said:
“Go to my profile to sign a petition to the band on change.org if you care to sign, and you can see my letter to the band on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading. Serj”
You can see Serj Tankian’s Instagram post below.
