Indie musicians Ariel Pink and John Maus under fire for presence at Pro-Trump protest

‘I attended the rally on the white house lawn and went back to hotel and took a nap. case closed,’ Pink wrote on Twitter

Indie musicians Ariel Pink and John Maus under fire for presence at Pro-Trump rally (Getty Images)

Indie-rock musician Ariel Pink admitted to attending the pro-Trump protest on Capitol Hill, surprising music fans, who poured onto social media to condemn the singer.

In a tweet, Pink claimed he was not part of the mob storming the Capitol, but was instead there to "peacefully show [his] support for the president".

Filmmaker Alex Lee Moyer posted a photograph of Pink and fellow singer John Maus together in Washington, DC. Responding to criticism from fans on Twitter, Pink wrote, "I was in dc to peacefully show my support for the president" and "I attended the rally on the white house lawn and went back to hotel and took a nap. case closed."

Pink, who has tweeted about supporting Trump in the past, also defended his attending a protest mid-pandemic. "All the people at these events deserve whats coming to them," he wrote. "They took the risk knowing full well what might happen. BLM protests over the past 6 months are not informed about the pandemic?"

It is still unclear what Maus was doing at the event, though he did share a cryptic link to the Vatican's website that appears to criticise idolization of Trump. He also shared an image of Edith Stein, who was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism and became a Discalced Carmelite nun.

Pink and Maus’ presence at yesterday's protest has a number of fans grappling with the typical indie-rock personality archetype, which generally attracts more liberal performers and fans alike.  

Earlier this month, Pink posted a number of tweets arguing that the presidential election was stolen from Trump.

This is not the first time Pink has stoked fan criticism for making problematic statements. In 2014, the singer told a story about being "maced by a feminist", calling it a "hate crime".

"You know, women's lib, all that kind of stuff, she makes her own money, she can f**king pay for her own lunch," he said in a video interview, describing the aftermath of an evening spent with a girl after a party. "But: I suggested it, I never offered to pay for lunch."

"This is my psychological evaluation," he continued. "She wanted to bitch me out in public because she's like, 'I got a good one. I got a great Kurt Cobain wannabe and he's respectful of women and I can shame him in public. This is just the guy I want.'"

In 2017, Pink appeared to offer a sympathetic view of Trump in an interview with Stereogum. "Donald Trump symbolises to me how everyone has it wrong and people don’t appreciate how much they have it wrong," he said. "They don’t take the opportunity to look at themselves and say, what’s wrong? They’re just like, that’s not America and that’s not me! No, that’s you. It’s you, you live here, you are America, you are that, you are Donald Trump, whether you want to believe it or not. You haven’t faced it."

Read More: Joe Scarborough gives heated rant about Capitol riots: ‘Trump supporters come in and you open the f****** doors for them’