Fulltone founder Michael Fuller faces backlash over criticism of George Floyd protesters
Boutique effects pedal pioneer and Fulltone founder Michael Fuller has been widely criticised for comments allegedly made on social media in the wake of ongoing demonstrations across the US protesting police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
A post on Fulltone’s official Facebook page, which uses Fuller’s picture as its profile image and regularly features the pedal builder posting in the first person on it, criticised the local response to the demonstrations, stating:
“What is this like night 4 of looting with 100% impunity. The pussy Mayor and Governor don’t give a shit about small businesses, and it’s never been more clear.”
The original post was followed half an hour later with a comment on the original post stating, “Ahh I feel better, and flushed out some prissy boys who were raised to pee sitting down. Now I’ll delete.”
The post was deleted soon afterwards, but not before the original was screen-grabbed and widely shared, prompting one Fulltone user to send a forthright email to Fulltone’s sales email address, accusing the designer of valuing “store fronts over police brutality”, and threatening to throw out his Fulltone pedals and leave a negative review in response to Fuller’s alleged comments.
The user then received a defiant response from the account, purportedly from Fuller himself, stating: “I am begging you to sell your pedals because you actually don’t deserve them. You are actually so racist that you believe the Good people who are protesting are the same as the Organized gang banger criminals who are looting ‘store fronts’.
“Those ‘store fronts’ are good hardworking people’s lives and livelihoods. I’m [sic] fact if I see you with a Fulltone pedal I will tag it and break into your house and loot it from you, because its my free expression to do so… right?”
A screengrab of this email was widely circulated, including on the Fulltone Pedals Facebook group, prompting significant criticism. Perhaps most notably, strong condemnation of Fuller’s alleged comments came from the administrator of one of the largest Fulltone fan pages on Facebook, which has over 14,000 followers – nearly double Fulltone’s official page.
The page’s administrator, identified only as ‘Bryant’, made a series of posts, including a screen-grab of the email, and a post that stated, “This is not a #riot this is #rebellion! #justiceforgeorgefloyd I don’t care what Mike says on his own page, I run this page and will promote the movement.”
The posts provoked widespread condemnation of Fuller’s alleged remarks in the comments underneath, and the criticism was not reserved for the Fulltone fan community.
“I’ll never buy another Fulltone guitar pedal again,” wrote Ryan Walsh, frontman of Boston indie-rock veterans Hallelujah The Hills. “I’d rather go acoustic, frankly, though the very notion makes me sick. Acoustic. My god.”
Brooklyn pop-rock duo Savoir Adore called for a boycott of Fulltone, posting an image of the initial post captioned: “For all you guitar players out there… This is what the owner has to say about the protests… #boycottfulltone”.
Jupiter Winter guitarist and solo artist Lelia Broussard was also forthright in her criticism, posting the screencap and stating: “Hey musicians: Fulltone Pedals isn’t on twitter but here’s what they have to say about the protests. FUCK this brand. Boycott.
“Any visual artists out there want to help us repaint these pedals with Black Lives Matter so that we can donate the pedals somewhere without doing anything to promote this trash brand?”
Hey musicians: Fulltone Pedals isn’t on twitter but here’s what they have to say about the protests. FUCK this brand. Boycott. pic.twitter.com/3XrgRnYOYj
— Lelia Broussard (@leliabroussard) June 3, 2020
Fulltone was founded in 1993 by Michael Fuller. Based in Southern California, the brand rose to prominence thanks to the popularity of the OCD overdrive and the Clyde wah. Guitar.com has reached out to Fulltone for comment, and for confirmation that the posts on the company page were made by Michael Fuller, but have yet to receive a response.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
