Band vows to go ahead with on-stage suicide

A rock group said it will go ahead with an on-stage suicide during a concert in the US next weekend, in defiance of a hastily enacted law designed to scuttle the plan.

The hard-rock band Hell on Earth has said a suicide by a terminally ill person would take place during a concert on Saturday in St Petersburg, Florida to raise awareness of right-to-die issues.

Yesterday, the city council unanimously approved an emergency ordinance making it illegal to conduct a suicide for commercial or entertainment purposes, and to host, promote and sell tickets for such an event.

“While I still think it’s a publicity stunt, we still couldn’t sit idly by and let somebody lose their life,” council member Bill Foster said.

Circuit Judge John Lenderman of St Petersburg granted the city a temporary injunction against the band yesterday, preventing them from advertising the show and allowing the suicide. The judge scheduled a hearing in the case for Thursday.

But band leader Billy Tourtelot was defiant.

“The show will go on,” he said.

Tourtelot, 33, said the concert will be played before a “a select few people” at an undisclosed location in St Petersburg and will be shown live on the band’s web site. He wouldn’t disclose any details about the terminally ill person or say how the person planned to kill himself.

The Florida-based band, known for such outrageous on-stage stunts as chocolate syrup wrestling and grinding up live rats in a blender, created the furore by announcing that the suicide would happen at the State Theatre in central St Petersburg.

But the theatre’s owner, David Hundley, promptly cancelled the band’s show, and another venue also turned away the event.

Tourtelot said the band was aiming to raise awareness that physician-assisted suicide should be legalised in Florida.

“If you can die for your country, why can’t you die for yourself?” he asked.

Tourtelot said he is not worried about any legal ramifications. Violating the city ordinance is punishable with up to 60 days in jail and a $500 (€430) fine.

A Florida law already makes it manslaughter – a second-degree felony – to assist in a suicide, although Tourtelot insists the band will not be assisting.

“This person will be doing this self-deliverance totally by themselves, on their own accord,” he said.

St Petersburg police were still trying to decide how to respond, spokesman George Kajtsa said.