Bad Vibrations Surround Beach Boys' Trophy Hunting Trump Jr Event

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Beach Boys founding members Brian Wilson and Al Jardine are advocating an unlikely cause this week: a petition pledging to boycott their own band's music until the band withdraws from a trophy hunting convention featuring Donald Trump Jr. as the keynote speaker.

The pair released statements distancing themselves from the band's scheduled performance Wednesday in Reno, noting that Beach Boys co-founder Mike Love owns the rights to the band's famous name and is performing at the convention without their involvement. Their support for the petition has helped it take off, garnering nearly 100,000 signatures Tuesday morning. Trump Jr. and his brother are both trophy hunters who routinely enrage conservationists by posting pictures of the exotic animals they kill.

"This organization supports trophy hunting, which both Al and I are emphatically opposed to," Wilson tweeted Monday. "There's nothing we can do personally to stop the show, so please join us in signing the petition" at Change.org protesting the private event. The petition seeks to pressure the band to withdraw from the convention or risk alienating fans and industry partners.

The petition states: "We the undersigned pledge to stop buying or downloading all Beach Boys music, going to Beach Boys concerts, and purchasing any Beach Boys merchandise until the Beach Boys withdraw from the SCI Convention and publicly state their opposition to this sick ‘sport’ of killing animals for ‘fun.' We will call on the Beach Boys' record label, agent and publicists to disown the Beach Boys, and on members of the public to protest at forthcoming Beach Boys concerts, unless they do so."

Love's touring edition of the Beach Boys, for which he holds the legal rights to the name, also includes longtime band member Bruce Johnston. They are slated to play Wednesday at the Safari Club International Convention in Reno, where hunting enthusiasts can arrange trips to hunt exotic animals.

The petition, started by Eduardo Goncalves and addressed to Beach Boys manager Elliott Lott, asks, "Wouldn't it be nice if all the Beach Boys, stayed away from those who kill for fun?"

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.