Black Veil Brides frontman Andy Biersack has spoken out after receiving backlash on social media from fans upset that the group is currently touring with Falling in Reverse.
Falling in Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke has been one of rock’s more polarizing figures in recent years and his publicly stated stances on gender identity have yielded pushback from fans and peers on social media and even a ban on the TikTok platform.
As part of the fallout, there has been heat on many of the bands that have toured with Falling in Reverse since Radke first started sharing his commentary, with some viewing the decision to tour with the group as a blanket acceptance of Radke’s viewpoint.
In 2023, Spiritbox officially dropped off six shows they had planned to play with Falling in Reverse after heavy discourse on social media about playing alongside Redke. At the time, Radke responded to the decision, stating, “Could never trash talk Courtney [LaPlante] and the rest of them are so sweet. I feel sorry for them as some of their fans are awful.”
What Andy Biersack Had to Say About Touring With Falling in Reverse
With the tour leg just started, Biersack posted on Monday (Aug. 19) about Black Veil Brides playing shows with Falling in Reverse.
He stated, “We have and will continue to tour with a lot of different artists. I’ll say this though even though it likely won’t land because I imagine you have a presupposition here but thus far we have been treated with a level of kindness and enthusiasm on this tour that we aren’t accustomed to, in fact for 3 legs of Trinity we were fairly universally loathed by the other bands fans either passively or in many cases overtly whereas last night the people in attendance who maybe didn’t know much about BVB gave us a chance and seemed to want to really have fun at a show rather than lean on the scene oriented ‘BVB sucks’ take.”
The Trinity of Terror tour that Biersack spoke of found Black Veil Brides playing shows in 2022 with Motionless in White and Ice Nine Kills.
READ MORE: Andy Biersack Steps In After His Name Is Used to Bully Another Musician
He went on to add, “@RonnieRadke went out of his way to show kindness to us which is again something that is uncommon for us to experience on non headlining runs historically.”
The singer continued, “You needn’t come to a show if it’s not for you and that’s entirely at your discretion but to attempt to grandstand on moral grounds to me who is a member of a band once called ‘the most hated band in the universe’ as if anything I believe changes by virtue of us being afforded the opportunity to play our music for more people who seem to actually enjoy it and hopefully share our message and entertain them is an extremely myopic and in my opinion unfair position to take.”
What Fans Were Saying About Andy Biersack’s Posting
As expected, Biersack’s statement earned some mixed reactions. “i’m so glad he’s treated you with respect and love, but what about the minority groups he has continued to target online? a lot of which are within your fanbase. the issue isn’t with how he treats you, but how he continues to treat minority groups,” bemoaned one person.
“ronnie radke being nice to you doesn’t take away from him treating other people like shit very openly,” added another. And yet a third person offered, “That just sounds like you’re saying ‘I’ll overlook objective wrongdoing when it benefits us.’ You CANT ignore someone’s hateful words or deeds, that alienate a huge proportion of your fan base, simply bc they’re affable & afford you bigger, better opportunities. That’s mercenary.”
But on the flip side, one person commented on the statement saying, “The hate for Ronnie is unnecessary. I’m happy to see you support him. I love FIR.” Another suggested, “Listen to his fans? You cannot advocate freedom of expression and then condemn it all in the same breath. Some of us fans believe that individuality should be encouraged, not condemned. We love you Andy, stay you.”
And yet another person offered, “Tour with who you want. Fans who dislike Ronnie should direct it at him. Not you.”
See a sampling of reactions below.
Black Veil Brides On Tour With Falling in Reverse
As stated, Black Veil Brides just started their run with Falling in Reverse. Dates are currently booked through a majority of September. Stay up to date on all the shows and get ticketing information through the Black Veil Brides website.
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