Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson wants fans to boycott his former band over an upcoming show at a hunting convention
- The Beach Boys' touring band, led by co-founder Mike Love, is scheduled to perform at Safari Club International's annual hunting convention in Reno, Nevada, on Wednesday.
- Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, who is no longer with the band, called on the Beach Boys to cancel their performance.
- He said he and fellow former member Al Jardine oppose trophy hunting, which Safari Club International actively supports.
- Safari Club International's convention will feature a keynote speech from Donald Trump Jr., and is auctioning off a week-long Sitka black-tailed deer hunt in Alaska with Trump Jr. and his son.
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Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson has asked fans to boycott his former band over a performance they have scheduled at a hunting event that Donald Trump Jr. is giving a keynote speech at.
The concert scheduled to take place on Wednesday at Safari Club International's annual hunting convention in Reno, Nevada, features the Beach Boys' touring group, led by co-founder Mike Love.
In a tweet Monday, Wilson said that he and fellow former member Al Jardine are urging people not to attend the concert because Safari Club International supports trophy hunting.
"This organization supports trophy hunting, which Both Al and I are emphatically opposed to. There's nothing we can do personally to stop the show, so please join us in signing the petition," he said, linking to a Change.org petition featuring a photo of Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump posing with a dead leopard.
Safari Club International advertises its four-day convention as "Hunters' heaven." It culminates with the results of an online auction that includes expeditions to shoot elephants, crocodiles and giraffes, and a week-long Sitka black-tailed deer hunt in Alaska with Trump Jr. and his son. The bid for the Trump Jr. hunting expedition was $10,000 at the time of publication.
Thousands of hunters are expected to attend the event in Reno, according to The Guardian. Trump Jr, an avid hunter himself, is scheduled to give the keynote address.
Trump Jr. has faced criticism for his passion for trophy hunting in the past. In December, it was revealed that he had killed an endangered sheep during a trip to Mongolia in August.
The Change.org petition Wilson shared had more than 94,000 signatures at the time of publication.
It includes an open letter that says: "Dear Beach Boys Manager Elliott Lott: We the undersigned pledge 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.' We will call on the Beach Boys' record label, agent and publicists to disown the Beach Boys, and on members of the public to protest at forthcoming Beach Boys concerts, unless they do so."
In the early 2000s, Love won a legal battle to officially use the Beach Boys band name on tour. Wilson and Jardine are currently touring together without the band.
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