Bands pull out of Punk in the Park amid controversy with organizer
by: Maddie Rhodes Posted: Jul 18, 2025
DENVER (KDVR) — Several bands have pulled out of Punk in the Park shortly before it’s set to start on Friday, with one band dropping out after learning the owner of the festival allegedly donated to President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Punk in the Park is a three-day music festival in Denver. Over 40 bands were set to play from Friday through Sunday, however, a few of the listed bands won’t be at the National Western Stockyards this weekend.
One band, Destiny Bond, said on Thursday morning that they won’t be performing after they learned the festival’s organizer reportedly donated to Trump’s presidential campaign.
“After learning and reflecting on the fact that the owner of the festival donated to Donald Trump’s campaign for president, we’ve decided playing as planned doesn’t align with our values,” the band said in an Instagram post.
Another band, Time X Heist, also announced they were dropping out on Thursday night, saying that they couldn’t support the organizers, although they didn’t directly state why.
“We cannot in good conscience support organizers that put profit over people. We have decided to step away from this fest to stand in solidarity with our trans siblings, immigrants and others negatively affected by the current administration and policies of the day, the band said in a Facebook post.
This comes after a petition began in April asking people to help stop the festival. The petition said that festival organizer, Brew Ha Ha Productions, allegedly donated to the Trump’s campaign, and provided a what appears to be a screenshot of a donation.
“As a long-time lover of punk rock and many of the bands on this bill, it stings to see a festival that’s supposed to represent our anti-establishment ethos being tied to politically divisive figures such as Trump,” the petition said.
Punk in the Park hasn’t said anything about the bands dropping out publicly, but on Friday morning, the festival posted an “update” on Instagram, stating that two other bands have dropped out for different issues, and Codefendents are performing instead.
“Sending our support to the guys in Real McKenzies who had Visa issues and the Guttermouth camp who experienced a medical emergency,” said Punk in the Park on Instagram.
The Real McKenzies said on Instagram that they had to cancel the show because their work permits hadn’t been approved by U.S. immigration.
“This is beyond our control!! We’re incredibly bummed that we won’t be able to play the show, and even more so cause we won’t get to see all the wicked bands playing the fest. We’ll do what we can to make things up in 2026, let’s hope things US immigration get sorted out and processing times return to normal,” The Real Mackenzies said in a post.
FOX31 has reached out to Punk in the Park and Brew Ha Ha Productions for a statement and is awaiting a response.
Is this the beginning of the end of the Musicians Union?
Many modern day musicians are very close minded and hive mind conformists. I’ve gotten used to hearing about popular performers I came of age listening to, express their intolerance. How ironic that the primary theme in their song lyrics often has to do with “Freedom”. They may want to re-google the definition of that term, and refresh their eroding memory.
“Hate has no home here” blah blah yada yada
Yes, typical teenage behavior. Most people grow up however. Musical tastes change and mature and adults stop playing their Star Wars action figures and hopefully stop sporting Mohawks.
Punk rock is as relevant to 2025 as Tommy Dorsey was to 1980. Think about that.