The Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson has declared his support for a petition urging a boycott of the band’s music, concerts and merchandise.
Eduardo Goncalves set up the change.org petition to protest a performance on Wednesday by The Beach Boys at the Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nevada.
“This organization supports trophy hunting,” Wilson tweeted, adding that this is something he and fellow Beach Boys original member Al Jardine “are emphatically opposed to.” He conceded “there’s nothing we can do personally to stop the show, so please join us in signing the petition.”
A little more than 80,000 people have added their names to the petition, pledging to “stop buying or downloading all Beach Boys music, going to Beach Boys concerts, and purchasing any Beach Boys merchandise until the Beach Boys withdraw from the SCI Convention and publicly state their opposition to this sick ‘sport’ of killing animals for ‘fun.’”
Mike Love, Wilson’s cousin and another original member of the band, won the legal right to tour under the Beach Boys name in 1998.
In a statement, he said: "We look forward to a night of great music in Reno and, as always, support freedom of thought and expression as a fundamental tenet of our rights as Americans.”