Slipknot + Korn Cited in Report on Wasteful Government Spending

This previous Friday (Dec. 22), Senator Rand Paul launched his “2023 ‘Festivus’ Report on Government Waste,” which – per his official web site – goals to “alert the American people to how their federal government uses their hard-earned money.” According to the analyses, artists resembling Slipknot, Korn, Nickelback and Smashing Pumpkins performed an element in the “$900,000,000,000 in government waste.”

Near the top of the prolonged doc, Paul talks about how the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was liable for “distributing financial relief” when “local concert venues and family-owned theatres were forced to shut down during the pandemic.” In explicit, the “Shuttered Venue Operators Grant [SVOG] program was supposed to provide a lifeline to small entertainment businesses nationwide.”

The report continues:

Sadly, however not surprisingly, SBA didn’t ship. Business Insider recognized dozens of well-known music artists and their touring corporations that acquired over $200 million via this system.

So-called “small business owners,” resembling Post Malone, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, and Smashing Pumpkins, acquired as much as $10 million every. Even Nickelback acquired $2 million. While some might declare these funds have been used to maintain supporting employees, artists weren’t required to take action, and we now have no method of figuring out how these clean checks have been used.

These multi-millionaire musicians have been cashing checks, as a substitute of the meant recipients: America’s small companies.

Alongside the textual content is a graphic that includes a number of different acts who’ve acquired grants.

For occasion, Korn’s Jonathan Davis is pictured alongside “$5.3M”; Slipknot’s Corey Taylor is pictured alongside “$9.7M”; and Vampire Weekend vocalist/guitarist Ezra Koenig is pictured alongside “$8.3M.” Taylor’s picture can be matched with a press release claiming: “A music festival founded by Slipknot, Knotfest, also received a $1,050,736 grant”; likewise, Koenig’s picture can be paired with a press release claiming: “Vampire Weekend’s manager Monotone Inc. also received a grant, for $3,077,888.”

In addition to the Business Insider article, the evaluation hyperlinks to an Excel spreadsheet that features SVOG information.

You can learn Rand Paul’s full report right here.

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Per Blabbermouth, the SVOG program “provided over $16 billion to closed venues.” Blabbermouth additionally clarifies:

Eligible companies consists of reside venue operators or promoters, theatrical producers, performing arts organizations, expertise representatives and film theaters. The SBA additionally prioritized companies that noticed the best losses through the pandemic.

Applicants have been eligible to obtain 45% of their 2019 gross income as much as $10 million per grant. To qualify for the grant, companies needed to have been open on February 29, 2020. Any federal Paycheck Protection Program loans the businesses had forgiven would have needed to be subtracted from the overall grants.

Back in July 2020, Loudwire reported on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was licensed by the SBA and the Treasury to “distribute loans to help businesses pay their staff.” Both Slipknot and Nickelback have been among the many artists who “benefited from the stimulus program.”

There’s additionally Live Nation’s “On the Road Again” program, which – Loudwire reported in Sept. 2023 – was designed to “mitigate the difficulties of touring and help support developing artists and crew members. Part of this new initiative includes an end to merchandise cuts, an issue several artists have spoken out against post-pandemic.”

As demonstrated by Falling In Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke’s current criticism of ongoing venue “greed,” there are nonetheless points with how these applications are carried out and maintained.

Oh, and in case you’re unaware, “Festivus” refers back to the secular anti-holiday created by creator Daniel O’Keefe in 1966; popularized by the 1997 Seinfeld episode “The Strike”; and celebrated on Dec. 23 of every yr.