UPDATE: POKER FACE

POKER FACE GIG AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY CANCELED AFTER STUDENTS MOUNT PROTEST
Written by Administrator - One People's Project
Tuesday, 21 February 2006

The New Jersey Libertarian Party has given us a lot of really screwy characters, but when they thought they were going to sneak the band Poker Face past everyone, they were proven otherwise. Now there will not be any band playing their conference this weekend at Rutgers University because students did not want a bunch of singing Holocaust deniers coming to their campus and making money. We need to extend out kudos to those students. Poker Face has spent the past decade or so getting a past from neo-cons across the country, notably Freak Republic who has had them perform at a number of rallies. Now they all need to explain why they would want to be associated with a band who made no bones about their hatred of Jews and damn near any non-white on the globe. In the meantime, this is one event this Saturday we don't have to worry about.

By One People's Project

The anti-Semitic band Poker Face, who was scheduled to play the annual conference of the New Jersey Libertarian Party this weekend at Rutgers University, will not be allowed to perform. This comes after a group of students voiced outrage to University officials about the band coming to their campus.

The reason that University officials have given for the cancellation said that the Rutgers University Inn, where the conference will be held, was not prepared for a band to perform, and the Libertarians are not being allowed along those lines. The planned appearance, however, was reported on in the most recent issue of the school publication Rutgers Review, and for weeks beforehand, some students reportedly had been contacting administrators because of the questionable stances the band had taken in the past.

Allentown, Pa.-based Poker Face has been seen among more mainstream circles as a patriotic musical act, and has performed at rallies sponsored by Free Republic as well as numerous Libertarian Party events. The band, notably its lead singer Paul Topete has also maintained hostile positions against Jews. On the band's forum, one can find a number of articles to that end posted by Topete under the name "pokerkid", among them, articles denying the holocaust, and suggesting a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, some of them written by known white supremacists like attorney Edgar Steele. Topete also maintains a hatred for African Americans and other non-whites, although he is reportedly partly of Mexican decent. The band made its name when jailed militia fixture Mark Korneke included their music on his shortwave radio program. Topete has recently been showing up on the forum of white supremacist internet radio host Hal Turner's website.

The Libertarian Party conference will still go on as scheduled, but Poker Face has been removed from its website announcement. Neither the Libertarian Party nor Free Republic has ever publicly distanced themselves from the band and its anti-Semitic views.