Skinny Puppy, the Canadian industrial rock band, has sent the Pentagon a royalties bill after having learned that their music was being used to torture prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Cevin Key, the band’s keyboardist, told Canada’s CTV News that “a former Guantanamo Bay guard and fan of the band contacted the musicians to let them know their music was being used at the detention center.”
“I think he was coming at it from the fact that he was shocked that our music was being used because although he was a guard at Guantanamo Bay, he also happened to be a fan of our music.”
Key went on to relate to CTV’s Kevin Newman that initially the band had considered designing an album cover depicting an invoice to the United States government in protest, but later learned it could bring suit against the Department of Defense and decided to send the demand for payment.
Key said that the band members were “offended” to learn their music was used as an “actual weapon” on Guantanamo detainees.
“We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an actual weapon against somebody.”
According to Slate:
To rectify the alleged unauthorized use, Key says the band sent the Pentagon a bill for some $666,000. A military spokesman, however, told the BBC the invoice had not been received.
You can watch a news clip from Canada’s CBC, below:
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