Late last month, UK rock group Fat White Family delivered an ultimatum to beloved BC-bred tunesmith Mac DeMarco, telling him to quit the music biz or they'll join terrorist organization ISIS. The tone-deaf joke seemed to come out of nowhere at the time, but an interview with the Pepperoni Playboy suggests that the public diss may have stemmed from him declining an offer to play with the group on late-night TV.
Backing up a bit, Fat White Family's Facebook post made the rounds a couple of weeks ago by suggesting DeMarco "immediately withdraws from music and the public eye," adding, in jest, that band members will head off to Syria to fight alongside ISIS otherwise.
A follow-up statement in the comments section took more shots at the singer by noting: "We didn't say he wasn't talented, he is more then [sic] capable of playing every single part of his soulless slacker/jock mr nice guy urban outfitters rock shite."
DeMarco was unfazed by the comments, going on record saying that while some people have approached him wondering whether it was a big in-joke, he doesn't know the band personally. That said, he had apparently been approached about a live collaboration on Late Night with David Letterman earlier this year.
The band took their "Is It Raining in Your Mouth" single to the program on April 2, without DeMarco.
"They asked me to play guitar with them on David Letterman a couple of months ago and I said no," he told the Guardian. "But I guess somewhere in between that time and now they decided that they didn't like me actually and yeah, if they have a problem, then that's fine. Not everyone's going to like my music. That's fine."
He added of his awareness of Fat White Family and their ISIS threat: "I don't know anything about them. I don't know anything about their music but it just kind of comes off as misinformed and a little bit disrespectful."
Fat White Family have not responded to DeMarco's claim.
Backing up a bit, Fat White Family's Facebook post made the rounds a couple of weeks ago by suggesting DeMarco "immediately withdraws from music and the public eye," adding, in jest, that band members will head off to Syria to fight alongside ISIS otherwise.
A follow-up statement in the comments section took more shots at the singer by noting: "We didn't say he wasn't talented, he is more then [sic] capable of playing every single part of his soulless slacker/jock mr nice guy urban outfitters rock shite."
DeMarco was unfazed by the comments, going on record saying that while some people have approached him wondering whether it was a big in-joke, he doesn't know the band personally. That said, he had apparently been approached about a live collaboration on Late Night with David Letterman earlier this year.
The band took their "Is It Raining in Your Mouth" single to the program on April 2, without DeMarco.
"They asked me to play guitar with them on David Letterman a couple of months ago and I said no," he told the Guardian. "But I guess somewhere in between that time and now they decided that they didn't like me actually and yeah, if they have a problem, then that's fine. Not everyone's going to like my music. That's fine."
He added of his awareness of Fat White Family and their ISIS threat: "I don't know anything about them. I don't know anything about their music but it just kind of comes off as misinformed and a little bit disrespectful."
Fat White Family have not responded to DeMarco's claim.