If I was about to go on tour with my best friend and he said something stupid that put us in danger from real life lunatics with guns, I’d fucking cancel the tour too because I cared about us both and our relationship. Besides, if you can’t tell your friends they’re wrong when they’re wrong, they’re not really your friend. This isn’t necessarily the act of betrayal you’re making it out to be.
I’m betting that making this statement publicly makes it easier to break the tour contracts, rather than backing out of the tour without saying why.