Burger Boogaloo Fest Severs Ties With Burger Records Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Burger Boogaloo, the independently-produced festival organized by Oakland, California’s Total Trash Productions, is severing ties with longtime partner Burger Records. In a statement posted on the festival’s website, it cited recent sexual misconduct allegations against Burger Records’ artists and employees.
“In light of the recent allegations against Burger Records and several of the bands on their label, Total Trash Productions has made the decision to end our long-standing partnership with Burger Records. We want to express our heartfelt support for the brave women who have come forward to share their stories,” the statement reads. “We also want to sincerely apologize to anyone who has ever been victimized or harassed at any of our events. As the organizers of Burger Boogaloo, we accept responsibility for what happens at the event, and while we have always worked to take swift actions in removing individuals from the event or our line-up who have acted violent or inappropriate, we know that we can always do better. We owe that to our fans and our community.”
Last weekend, a series of anonymous sexual misconduct allegations against various Burger Records’ artists and employees surfaced. In the wake of the news, Burger Records cofounder Lee Rickard resigned and fellow cofounder Sean Bohrman moved into a “transitional” role to assist interim president Jessa Zapor-Gray before Borhman eventually steps down. The label has announced it will be rebranding as BRGR RECS and will launch an all-women imprint called BRGRGRRRL.
In its statement, Total Trash Productions said they hired Burger Records to promote the festival after becoming acquainted with the label while booking tours for the label’s bands. “While we personally had an overall positive experience in working with Burger Records, and had no knowledge of the allegations that came out this week, we understand that there are many young women and others who have suffered traumatic experiences at the hands of certain bands and individuals associated with Burger Records,” the statement continued. “We are disturbed and disgusted by the allegations that have come out, and we stand with the survivors.”
Burger Boogaloo, which Total Trash Productions said it will rename, will “continue solely as a Total Trash Production.” Beyond the name change, organizers plan to employ additional safety measures for its attendees.
“This includes working on ways to make it easier for people to report abuse they experience or witness at our events so that we can act more swiftly in removing offenders and reporting them to the proper authorities, creating a stricter vetting process for bands and individuals on bands’ guestlists, further restricting backstage access and employing more security, continuing to diversify our line-ups with more acts that include women, LGBTQ and BIPOC, and working with local groups in our area to learn about actions we can take to help victims of sexual assault,” Total Trash Productions added. “These are just a few of the ideas we are currently discussing.” Read Total Trash Productions’ full statement.
