Andrew W.K. Nixed as Cultural Ambassador to Bahrain, Vows to Continue Partying

It’s hard to tell what’s funnier: That the State Department considered sending “positive partying” performer Andrew W.K. as an a cultural ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain, or that the effusive entertainer is actually surprised that it didn’t happen.

Earlier this week, Andrew W.K. announced that he had been invited to the U.S. embassy in Bahrain, an offer he says was recently rescinded only days before the planned Dec. 2 trip. A State Department representative told DCist that the decision to invite the musician to Bahrain was “a mistake” and that the embassy had determined he was “not the best choice and didn’t meet our standards.” But judging by an official statement released yesterday, Andrew W.K., known to the IRS as Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier, is evidently having none of it.

“For a Department of State representative to say Andrew W.K. ‘doesn’t meet their standards’ after they invited me and planned my trip for a year … well, that doesn’t meet my standards either,” W.K. said on his website, perhaps with a straight face. “I would’ve done a great job and represented our nation with dignity and pride. Despite all these challenges, I still would love to go and I vow to continue partying, and working everyday to to unite our human race through the power of positive partying.”

Wired reached out to both Andrew W.K. and Amnesty International for comment on the existential hilarity of taking the philosophy of positive partying to a nation that has forbidden public gatherings, but as of this writing has not received a response. Maybe the hangover is just too heavy.

Scott Thill covers pop, culture, tech, politics, econ, the environment and more for Wired, AlterNet, Filter, Huffington Post and others. You can sample his collected spiels at his site, Morphizm.

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Andrew W.K. Nixed as Cultural Ambassador to Bahrain, Vows to Continue Partying

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