Dan Boeckner, a 48-year-old Canadian musician, on 12 March posted on X deeply offensive remarks about Estonians, drawing the ire of Estonian expats in Canada and elsewhere.
Boeckner, a frontman of Wolf Parade, a Quebecois (meaning from the province of Quebec, Canada) indie rock band, and a touring member of Arcade Fire, another Quebecois indie rock band whose album has made the Rolling Stone magazine’s top 500 albums of all time list, said that “Estonia is made up of beet and onion slop eating hungarians who polished the cocks of german horses for 1000 years before being elevated to sapience by the USSR”.
What makes it even worse, with his totally unprovoked and incomprehensibly vile post, he reposted a statement by Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and a former prime minister of Estonia. Kallas’s original post said, “The EU continues to hold Iran accountable. Today, EU Member States ambassadors approved new sanctions targeting 19 regime officials and entities responsible for serious human rights violations” – having nothing to do with Estonia, Estonians or the Soviet Union.
Marcus Kolga, one of the leaders of the Estonian community in Canada, in response to Boeckner’s comments, compiled an open letter (that everyone can sign) to Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, Boeckner and the producers of Heated Rivalry (a Canadian TV show that has used Wolf Parade’s music), saying that Boeckner’s “statement is vile, dehumanizing ethnic abuse. It is not satire. It is not wit. It is hate dressed up as provocation.”
Contempt for Estonian women in public life
“What makes it even more offensive is that, as posted, it was directed at Kaja Kallas, Estonia’s former prime minister and now one of Europe’s most senior foreign policy leaders, serving as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission,” the open letter states.
“When a female leader is targeted through degrading ethnic and national abuse, the message extends beyond her. It communicates contempt not only for Estonia, but for Estonian women in public life.
“The statement is also historically grotesque. To suggest that Estonians were somehow ‘elevated’ by the Soviet Union is an insult to a nation that endured Soviet Russian occupation, terror, deportations, censorship, and the destruction of its independence. That is not only false. It is cruel,” the open letter continues.
“Kaja Kallas has become one of the clearest democratic voices in Europe against imperial aggression and authoritarianism,” it adds.
A member of a famous band
It is not known what triggered Boeckner’s comments. His last name indicates he may be of German descent, possibly that’s the reason for his interest in German horses or their anatomy.
Another member of Arcade Fire, Win Butler, has been accused of sexual misconduct by several women, including one accusation of sexual assault. Butler has denied the allegations.
All the studio albums of Arcade Fire, the band of which Boeckner is a touring member, have received nominations for Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammys. One of its albums, Funeral, is widely considered by music critics to be one of the greatest albums of the 2000s. It’s also ranked number 500 in the Rolling Stone magazine’s “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.
Kaja Kallas, whose post on X triggered Boeckner’s response, was the first female prime minister of Estonia, a post she served from 2021 until 2024. Since 2024, she has served as the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy as well as Vice President of the European Commission in the second von der Leyen Commission.
