Westboro Baptist Church Pickets Radiohead Concert, Calls Them "Freak Monkeys with Mediocre Tunes"

If it's not already, it'll likely soon be a maxim of the music industry that you've made it once you've been picketed by the fanatics at Westboro Baptist Church.

Last year, the Foo Fighters had arguably their biggest year ever, and right in the middle of it were picketed by Westboro Baptist, a Topeka, Kansas-based church whose members can often be found holding signs reading "God Hates Fags" and picketing the funerals of dead soldiers.

Foo Fighters took matters into their own hands, protesting the church right back in the most hilarious way possible, coming out on top while still keeping it (relatively) classy.

The latest band to draw the ire of the folks at Westboro Baptist is Radiohead, who the church calls "freak monkey's with mediocre tunes," in a statement on their website.

The full statement reads: "You have stolen the Word of God from your people and children, and as a sorry substitute, you prop up lightness and lies. You try to get the people to look at the nonsense and not at the wrath of God that abides upon them. "Look at the circus monkey over there and the fluffy setting, blah, blah..." Meanwhile, God is undoing this nation and effecting all of your lives, with the moth that quietly eats the very fabric of your national garment. Radiohead is just such an event. Freak monkey's with mediocre tunes keeps you busy and focused by lightness. It changes nothing, God is undoing and digging up and throwing down this nation."

Radiohead Nigel Goodrich seemed to have fun with the whole event, Tweeting "Highlight of the tour so far... Being picketed by westboro baptist church this evening.. Hoorah!" He would later add: "Freak monkeys with mediocre tunes.. New band concept."

While this could stem from Radiohead's immense popularity or their general left-wing views, it's possible that the Westboro Baptist people — like many Radiohead fans — simply felt betrayed when the band radically shifted directions with Kid A. We may never know.

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Josh Hart

Josh Hart is a former web producer and staff writer for Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado magazines (2010–2012). He has since pursued writing fiction under various pseudonyms while exploring the technical underpinnings of journalism, now serving as a senior software engineer for The Seattle Times.