Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, has divested itself of a band whose music it distributed – Gruppe Weimar. Research by “Spiegel” revealed that some members may have had ties to neo-Nazis and used to play in bands that performed songs denying the Holocaust.
As Der Spiegel reports, a member of the German hard rock group identified as Konstantin P. was previously active in the Nazi rock band Dragoons. The musicians sang about “six million lies” in songs with anti-Semitic lyrics, apparently referring to the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Another member of Weimar, Christian P., had released an album in 2002 whose cover artwork included a swastika and lyrics threatening Jews, the article said.
The magazine goes on to say that Weimar itself recorded songs with anti-Semitic descriptions. Their texts are about wolves and rats – the terms belong to the language used by the Nazis to describe themselves and Jews. In a statement from Universal to the trade magazine “Billboard”, the company said it had not previously known about Weimar’s history. In addition, the music company would not have entered into a business relationship with the band if it had been aware of the problem.
“Based on the information we recently received through a journalist’s inquiry, we have ended our relationship with Weimar, which consisted of distributing an album,” Universal said. “The information that has come to light has made it clear that any relationship with the band is totally unacceptable to us and inconsistent with our values. We feel betrayed by the band. If we had known then what we know now, we wouldn’t have released the album in the first place.”
Universal Music Group isn’t the only music company to have recently faced anti-Semitic remarks from artists it previously signed. The New York Times recently reported that Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) signed rapper Freeze Corleone in 2021 – only to drop him a few weeks later because the Frenchman had previously released music with anti-Semitic lyrics.
The upcoming tour of the band Weimar has now been canceled by the organizer, as reported by “mdr”. Also several planned festival appearances, including the Full Force Festival in Gräfenhainichen.
The band members have apologized to their fans on their Facebook page for “not communicating clearly” about their past.