Subversive pop project Devo have pushed people's buttons plenty of times in the past, but bassist Gerald "Jerry" Casale is now in the news for a provocative offstage moment in which he and his wife staged a 9/11-themed wedding.
As TMZ reports, Casale's nuptials to Krista Napp took place last Friday (September 11) at Santa Monica, CA's Michael's Restaurant. With their wedding having taken place on the 14th anniversary of the attack on New York's Twin Towers, the couple opted to reflect this with a pair of cakes modelled after the fallen buildings. The desserts featured the pair's faces affixed to the tops of the edible edifices.
According to reports, wedding guests were given real box cutters as party favours, this being an allusion to al-Qaeda terrorists aboard hijacked planes carrying out their attack with box cutters. Likewise, table setting cards featured a graphic of a box cutter with "Gerald and Krista" engraved on its handle.
Casale had previously played the terrorism card with his satirical Jihad Jerry and the Evildoers project. Flanked by other members of Devo, the pop music provocateur issued a full-length titled Mine Is Not a Holy War in 2006. The project was not as well-received as he had hoped.
"People are kind of freaked out by the Jihad Jerry stuff," he had previously said in an interview. "I thought they'd all think it was really funny and get off on it, but people are really offended and scared."
UPDATE (9/15, 11:30 a.m.): Casale has now explained that the cake was what he calls a "set-up" organized by a friend. "He thought it was some sort of transgressive sick humour, and the problem is, it's not funny," he said. Casale said to Billboard, "I apologize to anyone who offended," adding that the media attention the photo received has "ruined our wedding."
As TMZ reports, Casale's nuptials to Krista Napp took place last Friday (September 11) at Santa Monica, CA's Michael's Restaurant. With their wedding having taken place on the 14th anniversary of the attack on New York's Twin Towers, the couple opted to reflect this with a pair of cakes modelled after the fallen buildings. The desserts featured the pair's faces affixed to the tops of the edible edifices.
According to reports, wedding guests were given real box cutters as party favours, this being an allusion to al-Qaeda terrorists aboard hijacked planes carrying out their attack with box cutters. Likewise, table setting cards featured a graphic of a box cutter with "Gerald and Krista" engraved on its handle.
Casale had previously played the terrorism card with his satirical Jihad Jerry and the Evildoers project. Flanked by other members of Devo, the pop music provocateur issued a full-length titled Mine Is Not a Holy War in 2006. The project was not as well-received as he had hoped.
"People are kind of freaked out by the Jihad Jerry stuff," he had previously said in an interview. "I thought they'd all think it was really funny and get off on it, but people are really offended and scared."
UPDATE (9/15, 11:30 a.m.): Casale has now explained that the cake was what he calls a "set-up" organized by a friend. "He thought it was some sort of transgressive sick humour, and the problem is, it's not funny," he said. Casale said to Billboard, "I apologize to anyone who offended," adding that the media attention the photo received has "ruined our wedding."
