Carl Cox & More Speak Out After Asking Fans for Financial Support of Tour Managers

Yesterday, Carl Cox and a group of other high profile DJs were called out by trance DJ John Askew for asking fans to support their tour managers by purchasing mixes on Bandcamp.

“Out of desperation for income in these trying times the tour managers of some of worlds richest DJs launch a mix series to try and raise donations from the public to help keep themselves afloat while out of work,” Askew said. “And then the millionaires they work for have the audacity to beg and plead to the general public to get involved / donate give money I’m guessing so that they don’t have to themselves!!!??. What the actual fuck????????”

Now, Cox and Joseph Capriati have both responded to the controversy with messages of their own to attempt to clear up any misunderstandings.

“I have never seen anything blown so far out of proportion without context,” Cox said. “A group of the hardest working tour managers out there wanted to get creative and have some fun by getting together and seeing who could actually DJ. They asked me to support them as they support us touring DJ’s week after week throughout the year. All of us did that without too much thought or hesitation through our social media channels and gave them a mix from one of our shows.

“There was no suggestion ever made that this was to cover wages’ that is simply ridiculous and I feel saddened that this has even been suggested.”

“My dear friends out there, I want to explain and clarify to everyone why I am showing my face in a thing that is going crazy on social media and that has been definitely taken out of context,” Capriati said. “Our tour managers decided to record some DJ set as they normally doesn’t play. I have been asked from mine to support him which I of course agreed to without any questions as he is like my brother.”

He continued, “I’m well aware that there are people who don’t have the opportunity to eat and we are definitely more than lucky; For this reason, I include to this message the original and full video recorded for this initiative as in the one that the organization posted has only 2 seconds of it.

“As you will hear, there is no request for money or help: I’ve been working with my tour manager for almost 10 years and what unites us is great respect and trust. I have have never ever thought or hoped that this initiative was misinterpreted. This is the reality of facts, I wouldn’t ever do anything so wrong as many of you can imagine.”

Fans on Facebook seemed to be much more receptive to Capriati’s statement than Cox’s, with one commenting, “If it’s not to pay their wages then what is it for? Why would the public give them money if you’re supposedly paying them already so they’re not struggling are they? Surely if you want to charge for these mixes you should be encouraging people to donate to the health services or people more in need of it, not to line the pockets of people who clearly don’t need it.”