The Killers are apologizing.
The Brandon Flowers-fronted “Mr. Brightside” band was met with boos after an incident while performing in Georgia.
During their concert in Shekvetili, the group brought up a fan onstage to play the drums, a longstanding live tradition. He introduced himself as being from Russia, which was met with a negative reaction from the crowd, as Brandon referred to him as the country’s “brother.”
After more booing, he asked if he wasn’t their brother, being from America and got more boos, via TMZ.
Not only did the crowd grow angry, but “many” people reportedly left.
The band later issued a statement on social media.
”Good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone! We have a longstanding tradition of inviting people to play drums and it seemed from the stage that the initial response from the crowd indicated that they were okay with tonight’s audience participation member coming onstage with us,” they said.
“We recognize that a comment, meant to suggest that all of The Killers‘ audience and fans are ‘brothers and sisters,’ could be misconstrued. We did not mean to upset anyone and we apologize. We stand with you and hope to return soon.”
If you didn’t know, Georgia gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but has been met with conflict over the years from Russia, including an invasion of the country in 2008.
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