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Ex-Anti-Flag Members Release Statement

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Sep 7, 2023.

  1. Melody Bot Sep 7, 2023
    Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Three ex-Anti-Flag members have released a statement in response to recent allegations against their former lead singer.

    In light of the recent article in Rolling Stone magazine, to Kristina, Jenn, Molly, Rebecca, Suzanne, Mat, Susie, Stefanie, Karina, Ella, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Tali, we would like to say thank you for your courage in sharing the pain you have experienced. And, to others who may yet come forward, while you don’t owe anyone your story, please know that you are not alone and that we believe you.

To Justin, we believe you are very sick and in need of serious professional help. We want to have compassion and have faith in restorative justice, but fuck you for hurting so many people, not just the ones who have bravely come forward, but anyone still carrying their pain internally. Fuck you for exploiting the work of the band and the many people associated with it for so long. As many predators do, it appears you used our beliefs as a cover for egregious activities that you clearly knew we would never condone.

To everyone, we collectively and individually still have far more questions than answers in this moment. We have been learning of and processing all of this information in real-time. We trusted Justin greatly and are now learning that we were deceived, lied to, and kept in the dark for the entirety of our association. For Chris Barker, personally, Justin knew his history with trauma: his father has been convicted of sexual abuse of children and is currently incarcerated, his sister was a victim of abuse, and Chris himself was sexually abused by an older child in their neighborhood. We share this to demonstrate that Justin was acutely aware of the visceral reaction we would have to such destructive behavior. But also because sharing a stage for so long with someone you later learn is an accused predator has been incredibly painful to process and come to terms with. Two things can be true: a person can be kind and selfless in one space and a monster in another.

Around 10:30PM on July 18th, we were alerted that a podcast would be released the next morning detailing a sexual assault involving Justin. We forwarded a message to him that previewed the episode and contained a photo and name. Justin responded that he did not know this person. The next morning, when the three of us heard Kristina’s story, it became apparent to us that he was lying. To be true to the values we embraced for decades, we quit the band immediately and without hesitation. The three of us removed the band’s internet presence in an attempt to limit spaces for people to attack, antagonize, or harm Kristina as we tried to get a grasp on this shocking information.

As more details have been shared since the release of the podcast, we have been waiting for Justin to do the right thing. Given his lack of contrition in any meaningful way, it is very clear that he is absolutely not the person we were led to believe him to be.
We are unsure where our path will lead us. Right now, words feel hollow and no statement can alleviate the suffering that has been caused. We have a great deal to learn about ourselves – with much soul-searching and introspection ahead. There will have to be a lot of therapy and devotion of time and resources to places that are equipped to help with these kinds of traumas. The three of us are still in shock and grieving, but mostly our hearts are broken for every victim. We are deeply saddened by every one of your painful stories, and will forever be grateful for your courage in sharing them.

Love, healing, and justice to all survivors.

Pat, Chris, and Chris

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual abuse, here are some organizations that are dedicated to providing assistance.
• RAINN | The nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization
• National Sexual Abuse Hotline: 800.656.4673
• Center For Victims – Center For Victims
• Pittsburgh Action Against Rape: Home Page - PAAR
    more

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  2. Sean Murphy Sep 7, 2023
    Sean Murphy

    Most Prestigious Supporter

    wow
     
    failinginplace, Raku, jorbjorb and 1 other person like this.
  3. domotime2 Sep 7, 2023
    domotime2

    Great Googly Moogly Prestigious

    Thats definitely one of the rawest responses I've ever heard. You may not want to believe them or you may not even really care but thats one hell of a statement.
     
    Yourbiggestflan, orangehorizon, somethingliketj and 5 others like this.
  4. Sean Murphy Sep 7, 2023
    Sean Murphy

    Most Prestigious Supporter

    when it comes to long time band mates - i tend to raise an eyebrow when they said that they never knew about anything happening, but idk, something here makes me think they really were blindsided by all this.
     
    SuNDaYSTaR, malloz16, somethingliketj and 9 others like this.
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  6. Meltingplastic Sep 7, 2023
    Meltingplastic

    Newbie

    If you look at the first story that came, the band was not around when it happened so it could easily have been kept from them. I have yet to read the RS article but out of all the responses I've seen from anyone over any incident, this one seems to be the most legit
     
    falafelmywaffle, Raku and Sean Murphy like this.
  7. Former Planets Sep 7, 2023
    Former Planets

    Aaaachem!

    I don’t know if they needed to wait 6 weeks….
     
  8. dzyjay Sep 7, 2023
    dzyjay

    Regular

    They did make a statement immediately. This is in response to the rolling stone article that was published to days ago.
     
    SuNDaYSTaR, falafelmywaffle, Raku and 1 other person like this.
  9. Former Planets Sep 7, 2023
    Former Planets

    Aaaachem!

    Gotcha
     
  10. spreadthehummus2321 Sep 7, 2023
    spreadthehummus2321

    wanna go for a ryyyde

    if they knew he was lying immediately that's the statement they should have made in july.
     
    sawhney[rusted]2 and dzyjay like this.
  11. dzyjay Sep 7, 2023
    dzyjay

    Regular

    They couldn’t have made that statement in July without the article though
     
    Raku likes this.
  12. sowrongitsryan Sep 7, 2023
    sowrongitsryan

    Regular

    Damned if they do/don’t, as usual..
     
    FTank, theasteriskera, aspeedomodel and 6 others like this.
  13. ohitsjustrob Sep 7, 2023
    ohitsjustrob

    "The only truth is music."

    I really would like to hear Jason’s take on all of this. He was a huge fan of Anti-Flag and always repped their music and now that this is all coming out I would love to hear how he feels about all of this, it hurts so much and I’m sure he (Jason) is hurting too. This sucks.
     
    Raku likes this.
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  15. spreadthehummus2321 Sep 7, 2023
    spreadthehummus2321

    wanna go for a ryyyde

    i think they could have because thats when the podcast came out and they say they asked him about it
     
  16. dzyjay Sep 7, 2023
    (Last edited: Sep 7, 2023)
    dzyjay

    Regular

    But they mention every victim who came out by name in the Rolling Stone article. Obviously (if) they had no idea they are learning in real time.
     
    Raku likes this.
  17. dzyjay Sep 7, 2023
    dzyjay

    Regular

    Sounds like you are reading headlines and not the actual information
     
    Raku likes this.
  18. spreadthehummus2321 Sep 7, 2023
    spreadthehummus2321

    wanna go for a ryyyde

    the victims accounts point to the band members being present in some of these situations and their initial statement addressing the podcast basically read "we believe victims but we've never seen see our boy do anything wrong so..."

    if you want to stay invested in defending their integrity knock yourself out though
     
  19. dzyjay Sep 7, 2023
    dzyjay

    Regular

    I said (if). The band members mentioned there names in the new statement based on the rolling stone article. Hence why that wouldn’t have been able to make this statement prior.
     
    Raku likes this.
  20. dzyjay Sep 7, 2023
    dzyjay

    Regular

    I think this is all disgusting don’t get me wrong. Justin is gross.
     
    Raku and Colby Searcy like this.
  21. Steeeve Perry Sep 7, 2023
    Steeeve Perry

    Trusted

    I read it as that the band members saw Justin interact with some of the women and share a bus with one. That is a long way from witnessing wrongdoing. Should it have raised suspicion? Possibly. But I'm not going to accuse them of that decades later. Good on them for completely disavowing Justin and his behaviour, and strength to all victims.
     
    orangehorizon, theasteriskera, falafelmywaffle and 6 others like this.
  22. dzyjay Sep 7, 2023
    dzyjay

    Regular

    Thank you!
     
    Steeeve Perry likes this.
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  24. Eml182 Sep 7, 2023
    Eml182

    Regular

    they broke up immediately
     
  25. gbuffers Sep 8, 2023
    gbuffers

    England.

    I have no reason to defend their integrity and don't know what any of them are like as people but it seems very clear to me that they were just reacting in real time to all of this. They immediately broke up the band because they believed the initial abuser but wanted to make it clear that they don't condone his behaviour and have never witnessed it / had any suspicion of it. I think that's all they could have done. When the Rolling Stone article came out and more facts came to light they were able to respond accordingly with all the information in front of them with a more thorough statement.

    Attacking the band mates is a strange one; the more pertinent issue is the offender's behaviour and the welfare of the victims. Says a lot about you as a person. It's very different to know someone and see them interact with people in public to what goes on behind closed doors. He was obviously very devious and calculated to make sure others weren't aware.
     
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  26. dzyjay Sep 8, 2023
    dzyjay

    Regular

  27. Former Planets Sep 8, 2023
    Former Planets

    Aaaachem!

    Maybe Justin can start a supergroup with Jesse and the guy from Cheap Girls. Anybody know if any abusive drummers to round them out?
     
  28. Drew Beringer Sep 8, 2023
    Drew Beringer

    @drewberinger / we dogs Moderator

    maybe they knew bits and pieces, maybe they didn't know the full extent of the relationships, maybe they really didn't know. But I do tend to believe they were blindsided just because of how immediate they reacted to disbanding the band, canceling the tour, and deleting all online presence.

    I feel like you don't do that if you had a thorough idea of what this dude was doing
     
    333 GANG and Raku like this.