So they have replaced Chester Bennington, a rape survivor, with Emily Armstrong, a rape apologist? They waited 7 years from Chester’s death to piss on his grave with this replacement? Seriously?
This sucks.
100%. It’s made me rethink all of my support for the remaining members of the band. This choice aside: if they truly respected Chester’s legacy, why not rename the band? You can still play a Linkin Park song or two at shows for your new band, no one will care. To me, all of this just smacks of “Mike Shinoda and friends didn’t want to set aside the fame and album and ticket sales that come from having the Linkin Park name.” It feels like they spent seven years honoring Chester’s legacy so fans wouldn’t revolt when they replaced the irreplaceable.
I’m not saying any of that is necessarily true, but the air of deception around this move makes one start to wonder if they have been deceived in other ways.
There’s nothing that I can point to definitively, but watching videos performances after Chester’s death, and seeing Shinoda speak about it all, I honestly got the vibe that he’s resentful that everyone focuses so much on Chester in a “this is actually my band, why can’t you just let him go” type of thing.
Definitely for me the specific choice they made here does make me see in in a cynical light. I don’t know these people and mayybe there could have been some nuanced or respectful ways to keep the band going in some sense, I really don’t know, but this sure as shit doesn’t seem like that. Like damn, this really is how every single group of people acts when someone is a survivor, or when someone else is a rapist, huh? Just wow. Every single group of people, complete self interest and disregard. I can’t think about it in any other light. Similar kinds of situations have played out over and over again lately and I am so disheartened. I’m bracing myself for some awful comment to come out next. The whole thing is just queasy the more i learn about it.
I was and kinda still am pretty devastated :( I listened to their new song and was immediately in love with her voice and thought it was a perfect fit only to later find out that she most likely sucks as a person
Honestly give it a minute for the emotions of it all to settle down. Best I can tell this is an out of control internet rage machine, with very little factual information to back up the claims so far. She’s a world class vocalist who’s a relative unknown for most people, and all we’re currently getting is wild and unproven accusations based on hearsay.
She posted this on Instagram yesterday:
"Hi, I’m Emily. I’m new to so many of you, and I wanted to clear the air about something that happened a while back
Several years ago, I was asked to support someone I considered a friend at a court appearance, and went to one early hearing as an observer. Soon after, I realized I shouldn’t have. I always try to see the good in people, and I misjudged him. I have never spoken with him since. Unimaginable details emerged and he was later found guilty.
To Say it as clearly as possible: I do not condone abuse or violence against women and I empathize with the victims of these crimes."
Edit: typo - 1 to I
So what to make of the Scientology links, then? And the whole thing where she doesn’t “believe in” mental illness? If her statement is true, then she has dodged the most disgusting allegations, but idek if u can trust that it is true.
Can you point to where she said that she doesn’t “believe in” mental illness?
Most of the accusations being thrown around are tenuous and unproven as far as I can tell. I’m tired of the hate-train circle jerk. People need to back up their statements with facts and evidence, not hearsay.
I’ve been loosely following Emily Armstrong and Dead Sara for a decade or more, and I was so stoked to see join Linkin Park. I swear people just want to be mad these days. If she did shitty things that sucks, but this purity test nonsense has got to stop. Receipts or STFU.
Scientology teaches that psychology and psychiatry are fake and that mental illnesses are caused by “body thetans” which are the spirits of the victims of the many genocides committed by Xenu.
Until she says publicly disavows Scientology, then the only narrative is that she believes what Scientology teaches
So basically it’s not something she’s ever said, but you’re assuming that she holds the exact beliefs of Scientology. This in spite of the fact she was reportedly raised by a Scientologist, yet is openly gay in contradiction to their teachings. Not to mention her songwriting for Dead Sara, which would indicate other beliefs.
For all we know she left years ago and doesn’t ascribe to any of it. It’s extremely hard to know, and personally I’d like to have some real proof before launching a “righteous” crusade against her.
I think this Vulture article sums up the veracity of the Scientology claims. Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s accusation included the allegation that she is a true-blooded Scientologist, and she has yet to deny it. By my estimation, Scientology is an ugly (if not evil) organization using the veil of freedom of religion to deflect any criticism of its predatory and abusive practices. Armstrong really does have an excellent voice for this role, but I refuse to support anyone who participates in that shit.
She posted a note to refute the Danny Masterson connection, yet she pointedly ignored the scientology allegation. I think I land in the same place as @[email protected] on this one. Until she publicly refutes the Scientology connection, I don’t want anything to do with a Linkin Park that includes her.
it’s more likely that they didn’t bother to research and now they can’t be bothered
I highly doubt it, considering that the band actively scrubs and censors their comment section of any possible mention of it. They’re shitting on Chester’s legacy.
One of the guitarists won’t be touring live with them, only in the studio. So, not the whole band.
I’m not sure I can follow your logic here as to why they aren’t in this case, just because they only do studio recordings with her.
It was announced after all the reports. So it wasn’t, “I’m only studio now that we’re all back” it’s more, “we’re back now and I may have planned on doing tours, now I’m not so sure.”
IMO, of course. Reminds me of other tour shenanigans that bands have done over the years.
Did they explicitly state that it was because of her though? Because them not touring could be because of a number of reasons that are completely unrelated to the current events around her.
