Scurlock explains Flaming Lips firing

More on Christina Fallin, the governor's daughter in a headdress. First, some background on Fallin and her friend Wayne Coyne:

The Fallin Fallout: Festival, Riverwind, and Mom All Issue Statements

By Wilhelm MurgThe one supporter Fallin does have is Oklahoma City resident Wayne Coyne, the leader of pop group The Flaming Lips. Rumors that Coyne fired the band’s drummer, Kliph Scurlock, due to Scurlock’s criticism of Fallin posting a picture of herself wearing a faux-native American headdress in March were confirmed. “I was fired for telling Christina to go fuck herself after her lame-ass 'apology' when people got upset at her stupid headdress photo," Scurlock wrote in a statement to ICTMN. "That happened in mid-March. I wasn't anywhere around during the performance [at Norman Music Festival] the other night."

Coyne went on to post pictures of his friends and his dog wearing a faux-Native American headdress in apparent solidarity with Fallin. His actions are causing a lot of debate on social media in Oklahoma, where Coyne is a major figure in a music scene heavily populated by people with Native American heritage and connections.

One such person in that debate is Drew McKenna, a local Native American radio personality in Tulsa, “Christina needs to get an anthropology degree,” McKenna said.

“Even someone like myself, who has Native American blood, I don’t necessarily look at a headdress and think ‘that’s a sacred object to me,’ but I respect that there are some people who feel that way,” McKenna said. “When we look back at our parents’, and our grandparents’, and our great grandparents’ generations that were so affected by the Trail of Tears, the boarding schools, and the indentured servitude of share cropping, and the 40 acres and a mule that no one ever got--once you learn about those things you can understand why it’s so wrong that someone so flippantly allowed another human being to be made fun of so blatantly like that in social media.”Next, what happened to Coyne's fellow band member Kliph Scurlock:

Flaming Lips Drummer Claims He Was Fired After Speaking Out Against Racism

By Tom WilliamsIn a statement to Indian Country Today Media Network yesterday, Scurlock confirmed that his criticism of Fallin got him kicked from the band. “I was fired for telling Christina to go fuck herself after her lame-ass ‘apology’ when people got upset at her stupid headdress photo,” he said.

Scurlock has now gone one step further, providing a lengthy explanatory statement to Pitchfork (below), detailing the events which led him to split from The Flaming Lips. In the statement, Scurlock accuses Wayne Coyne of “endless verbal (with threats of physical) abuse”.

Scurlock notes that following his criticism of Fallin, Coyne set him an early-morning text message which read, “You lost your mind dude…. that is some petty, sad, hater bullshit. You love to talk shit…. Like a punk coward… ”

The next day, Coyne reportedly said “… Ha ha… You so full of shit … You’re a fucking coward !! Go stick up for your Indian friends if its so important to you !!” This text was followed by another which read, “I think….. I am gonna make it so your ‘beliefs’ no longer have any association with the Flaming Lips,” followed by another telling Scurlock that he was fired.Kliph Scurlock Speaks Out About The Flaming Lips, Says He Was Fired For Standing Up to Racist Comments

WTF Is Going On With Wayne Coyne?

Comment:  For more on Christina Fallin, see Fallin Defends Headdress, "Sheep" Shawl and Drummer Fired for Criticizing Fallin.