But in the end, the event seemed to have been sabotaged by an elaborate prank that gained widespread attention from the Internet over the weekend.
Sacha Baron Cohen, although it is still unclear if the comedian was responsible for the trick. Its publicist has not responded to CNN’s request for comment and has made no public comment on the matter.
“Unfortunately, the organizers of the event were created by a fake flag gag, designed to try to make the event look bad, and it is suspected to be the famous gag artist Sasha Cohen,” wrote right-wing group Oath Keepers in Facebook, pointing the finger directly at the British comedian.
Baron Cohen, known for playing fictional characters like Ali G and Borat, has previously set unsuspecting conservatives in an attempt to ridicule them in his satirical television series “Who Is America?”, Which aired on Showtime in 2018.
The video that was streamed live from the event appeared to show a singer in a red shirt and blue jumpsuit engaging the crowd in a racist song. The lyrics of the song referenced Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Anthony Fauci, and referred to the coronavirus as the “Wuhan Flu”. CNN was also mentioned.
Event organizers said they tried to disconnect the microphone.
“We were caught,” Allen Acosta, the organizer of the event, said in a video of the event, posted by Oath Keepers.
Ringmaster Matt Marshall, founder and former leader of the Washington Three Percentives, another right-wing group, said in the video that a group describing itself as a political action committee (PAC) had contacted the Organizers of the “March for Our” Rights 3 “meet one week before the event.
CNN has reached out to Marshall for comment and has yet to receive a response.
Marshall said in the video that the alleged PAC offered to sponsor the rally, saying it would pay for a stage, hire a producer, and hire some bands to perform at the event. The group also brought in a team of security guards, according to Marshall.
After the Olson Bros Band, a country group from Olympia, performed, another band took the stage. And then the alarms sounded.
“During the second set … very racist lyrics began,” Marshall wrote in a Facebook post. “We tried to contact the sponsors, but they had dropped out of the event.”
Marshall wrote that he and others involved in the event tried to cut power, but were blocked by private security. Finally, they were able to get to the stage and disconnect the microphone, he said. As they did so, the gang left and jumped into the back of an ambulance, while security guards fled in cars, Marshall said.
Another gang said some attendees were angry at the joke.
Luke Olson, a member of the Olson Bros Gang who played before the prank, told CNN that the stunt seemed to piss off some people in the crowd.
“… People started getting angry because I think it made a lot of them look stupid, because at first they sang,” Olson said. “But when he took him further, the crowd started to get angry and then he ran away and got into an ambulance in the back. And there was an angry crowd chasing him and trying to prevent the ambulance from leaving.”
Olson added that he did not know what would happen on stage. She said some people had contacted the band a few days earlier to appear at a “Back to Work” rally.
“However, when we got there, there were a lot of people with guns, so I think there was a Second Amendment march going on, and they also had a lot of Republican governor nominees speaking before our set,” he said. Olson. However, we were unaware of these details. We were excited to play at our first concert in over three months. “
Organizers then addressed the incident on stage.
“There was some excitement and there was a singer up here that doesn’t reflect the values of the people who attended there or the organizer or even parts of the production,” said Acosta. “… I’m sorry you were exposed to that.”
CNN’s Amanda Jackson contributed to this report.
.
