Lithuanian producer Ten Walls (also known by the stage name Mario Basanov and his given name Marijus Adomaitis), famous for his UK Chart topping hit “Walking with Elephants,” has found himself completely disowned from the dance music scene following homophobic comments he made on his Facebook last week. Adomaitis has since found himself under fire from all areas of the industry, being dropped from major festival lineups including Creamfields and PITCH Festival and boycotted by fellow DJs, who are now refusing to share gigs with him or play his music.
The controversy began when a gay-oriented news site Gay Star News picked up on a post on Marijus’ personal Facebook, which translated from Lithuanian stated:
"I remember producing music for one Lithuanian musician, who tried to wash my brain that I don’t need to be so conservative and intolerant about them. When I asked him “what would you do if you realized that your 16-year-old son’s browny (anus) is ripped by his boyfriend?” Well he was silent.""
He also went on to refer to homosexuals as “people of a different breed” and blamed homosexuality for the sexual assault scandals amongst Catholic priests. As the story went viral, Adomaitis eventually deleted the post and issued an apology via his personal account, as well as his Ten Walls fan page, but by then the damage had already been done.
Thankfully his festival appearances are falling at the wasteside, and his booking agency has dropped him as well. Serves him right. I feel bad for jamming to "Walking with Elephants" now.
I'm so disgusted right now. As a fellow Lithuanian, I was really rooting for him and everything, but after that posted I was left shocked. At first I thought someone have probably hacked his account, but now he openly admitted it was him... The fact that he was starting to get our country's name out there was pretty amazing, but now I'm just embarrassed by his comments and statement and I hate him.
HARD Summer, Sónar, Creamfields, Pukkelpop, PITCH and Urban Art Forms Festival have canceled scheduled appearances by the producer -- also known as Marijus Adomaitis -- who scored a top 10 hit on the U.K. singles chart with "Walking With Elephants" last year.
The artist was also reportedly dropped by his booking agency Coda Music Agency, while Phonica Records has canceled all pre-orders for his new Sparta EP.
