Mike Shinoda is sharing his thoughts on the way fans reacted to Linkin Park‘s new singer.
Emily Armstrong, 39, joined Linkin Park in 2024, 7 years after the death of original vocalist Chester Bennington.
Following her joining the band, Emily and the other members of Linkin Park were met with backlash over Emily‘s link to Scientology. In a new interview, Mike is opening up about the backlash she received and why he believes fans “lashed out” at her.
Keep reading to find out more…
Mike spoke to The Guardian about Emily in a recently published interview.
“There were people who lashed out at Emily, and it was really because she wasn’t a guy,” Mike said during the interview, claiming that the hate lodged against Emily was due to the major change in the band going from being all-male to having a female lead singer.
“They were just so uncomfortable with what it was that they chose a ton of things to complain about. They’re pointing in 10 different directions, saying: ‘This is why I’m mad, this is why the band sucks,’” Mike said.
Meanwhile, Emily said that she was “naive” about the reaction that she would get upon joining the band. She told the publication that for her mental health, she avoids reading social media and seeing what people have to say about her. She said, “If there was something really, really pressing, I think our PR would talk to us about it. But I’m old enough to know the difference between real life and the internet.”
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