Singer Rex Orange County Pulls Out of Show Due to KKK Joke

Rex Orange County is an up-and-coming singer who is making huge strides in the music world.

The 20-year-old singer was scheduled to perform on the French program Quotidien on Tuesday (October 9), but he decided to pull out of the show due to a “tasteless joke regarding the KKK” that was being made on the episode.

“I’m sorry to my fans that I will no longer be performing on Quotidien tonight. Upon arrival to tape for my scheduled appearance on the show I became aware of a sketch planned for this evening’s episode that was at odds with my core values and after addressing with the show’s producers and understanding that they intended to move forward with the sketch despite my discomfort I’ve had to cancel my appearance in order to not be aligned with that content,” Rex wrote in an initial post on Instagram. “Apologies to anyone that was planning to tune in to see me.”

Rex Orange County, whose real name is Alexander O’Connor, cleared up what happened in a follow-up post.

“Considering the show has now been aired, I’d like to be clear. The people at Quotidien did not respect the way I felt about one particular tasteless joke regarding the KKK,” he wrote. “I told them I didn’t want my performance to be aired on the same show as this particular section. It was then made very clear that my performance was NOT as important as the joke. They refused to take it out. So I pulled out. Clearly I’m not good enough for them. Oh well, at least the KKK is! Fair enough.”