{"id":62009,"date":"2019-08-27T16:13:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T20:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=62009"},"modified":"2019-08-27T16:13:09","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T20:13:09","slug":"the-scoop-grammy-award-winning-david-clayton-thomas-anti-gun-anthem-censored-for-being-political","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/08\/27\/the-scoop-grammy-award-winning-david-clayton-thomas-anti-gun-anthem-censored-for-being-political\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | GRAMMY Award-Winning David Clayton-Thomas&#8217; Anti-Gun Anthem Censored By Facebook For Being &#8216;Political&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_62010\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62010\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-62010\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/David-Clayton-Thomas.jpg\" alt=\"David Clayton-Thomas \" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/David-Clayton-Thomas.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/David-Clayton-Thomas-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/David-Clayton-Thomas-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/David-Clayton-Thomas-1024x536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62010\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blood Sweat &amp; Tears front man David Clayton-Thomas&#8217; song about gun violence labelled too political for Facebook. (Photo courtesy of Paquin artist agency)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Can music change minds? And is an anti-gun protest a political statement? These are the central questions at the heart of a controversy surrounding a new song by iconic Canadian artist David Clayton-Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>According to a media release, <em>Never Again<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 an anti-gun violence song dedicated to the students of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida \u2014 has been turned down for ad coverage by social media giant Facebook on the grounds of being \u201cpolitical\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>GRAMMY award-winning singer, songwriter, and musician, David Clayton-Thomas is best known for his seminal work with the band Blood, Sweat &amp; Tears, and hits like <em>Spinning Wheel<\/em> that combined elements of jazz, blues, and rock. <em>Never Again<\/em> doesn\u2019t pull any punches with its plain-spoken lyrics.<\/p>\n<p><em>Another bloody day in America,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Another mass shooting in the news&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The video features a pastiche of images from the \u2014 sadly \u2014 many mass shootings on US soil, including several from the Parkland massacre and the recent El Paso shootings, along with various anti-gun protests, marching militaristic groups, and the like, over Clayton-Thomas characteristic brand of bluesy rock. Clayton-Thomas\u2019 attempts to boost the song with a Facebook ad were rejected by the social media platform. It\u2019s not clear what images were involved in the proposed ad.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DVlnjPAVZf8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p><em>Never Again<\/em> comes from his forthcoming album, \u201cSay Somethin\u2019\u201d, and while the CD isn\u2019t set for release until early 2020 via Linus Records, he felt the single\u2019s message was important enough to get out early.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven the current climate of gun violence in America, I felt this song should be heard now,\u201d the singer says in the release. \u201cThis song is dedicated to the kids of Parkland and the March For Our Lives movement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Using music to tackle social issues is nothing new for Clayton-Thomas. The singer has been in the news again recently with the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, where Blood, Sweat &amp; Tears took the stage along Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and other legends of the classic rock era. The mood of the moment, he recounted in an interview, was hopeful for change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe came to change the whole world with a song and we really believed that. And we did at least for a minute.\u201d\u00a0 Back then, as he reminded a reporter for <a href=\"https:\/\/toronto.citynews.ca\/2019\/08\/19\/can-music-create-change-more-artists-take-on-gun-violence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CityNews Toronto<\/a>, the emphasis was on Vietnam and the anti-war movement. \u201cIt was at the height of the Vietnam War and people had enough of dozens of kids a week coming home in body bags. They were angry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the present, it\u2019s violence on home turf that he\u2019s concerned with. \u201cThe gun violence in the states is an epidemic. It\u2019s horrendous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He told <a href=\"https:\/\/toronto.citynews.ca\/2019\/08\/12\/david-clayton-thomas-on-why-musicians-against-guns-should-launch-another-woodstock\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CityNews<\/a> that the reaction to <em>Never Again<\/em> was immediate, with hundreds of responses recorded within just a few hours. \u201cIt obviously struck a nerve and so it should. What\u2019s going on right now is just a horror show. It\u2019s unbelievable what is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the social media setback, Clayton-Thomas is firm in the belief that music can create social change, and he thinks the past may hold lessons on how to amplify the message.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this current political climate we\u2019re due for another Woodstock \u2014 and we may see something.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><b><i>LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i><br \/>\n<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><i>Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LudwigVanToronto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Facebook<\/span>,<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ludwigvantoronto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LudwigVanTO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can music change minds?  This is the central question at the heart of a controversy surrounding a new song by iconic Canadian artist David Clayton-Thomas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":62010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25164,36,39],"tags":[30772,30771,1228],"yst_prominent_words":[30768,30760,30757,11257,30763,9987,30758,10700,30770,30762,8714,6616,23915,8285,10142,13014,30769,30761,24079,8203],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/David-Clayton-Thomas.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-g89","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62009"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62009"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62012,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62009\/revisions\/62012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62009"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=62009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}