Panic! At The Disco convert hate to cash

Las Vegas rockers Panic! At The Disco have turned members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church into fundraisers for a gay rights charity.

The church, who regularly protest against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups, said they would picket the band’s appearance in Kansas City because of the group’s track, I Write Sins Not Tragedies.

However, band members decided to undermine the church by promising to donate $20 to the Human Rights Campaign for every Westboro Baptist Church protester who showed up.

Only 13 picketers arrived outside the gig, so the band decided to donate $1000 and 5 percent of the proceeds from their merchandise sales to the HRC, which is America’s largest civil rights organisations.

Following the gig, the church took to Twitter to mock the band, saying: “There’ll be panic at the second coming of Christ,” before tweeting a picture of Panic! At The Disco’s frontman, Brendon Urie, with a caption reading: “repent or perish.”

It’s not the first time the church have threatened musicians. In 2013, they said they planned to picket late Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman’s memorial service in Hollywood, but they failed to show.

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.