Jaime Bennington , son of Chester Bennington Linkin Park fans have been "aggressive and cruel" towards him since he criticized the band's new version.
Last Thursday, the 5th, the group announced their return during a live stream where they introduced Emily Armstrong , from Dead Sara , as the new vocalist. Armstrong joins the lineup in place of Chester, who committed suicide in 2017. The lineup now also includes Colin Brittain replacing Rob Bourdon , who left the band.
Founding guitarist Brad Delson later announced that he will not be playing with the band on the upcoming tour, but will continue to work with them behind the scenes – including participating in the creation of new music.
Initially, fans had quite diverse opinions, some approving of the band's return and the vocalist, while others said the band shouldn't have come back without Chester, or even that they didn't like the singer.
However, things got complicated when issues from Emily's past surfaced, such as her relationship with Scientology and the alleged rapist Danny Masterson . All of this was revealed by The Mars Volta and former At The Drive-In member , Cedric Rixler-Zavala , whose wife, Chrissie Carnell Bixler , accused Masterson of raping her while they were in a relationship, having testified in 2022. She had previously filed a separate civil lawsuit against him.
Later, Mike Shinoda explained that fans may need "time to understand" the band reuniting with Armstrong. He also said that those who "disrespect" him because of the decision "will lose my respect in return."
Jaime then responded in a post: “Hey, Mike! People aren’t having trouble understanding Linkin Park’s perspective on reinventing themselves. They’re having trouble understanding how you: Hired your longtime friend Emily Armstrong to replace Chester Bennington knowing Emily’s history in the church and her history as an ally of Danny Masterson.”
Furthermore, he accused Shinoda of “silently erasing my father’s life and legacy in real time […] during International Suicide Prevention Month” and “refusing to acknowledge the impact of hiring someone like Emily, without even a clarifying statement about the variety of victims that make up her core fanbase.”
Jaime went to Instagram Stories to say, “We trusted you to be a better and greater person. To be the change. Because you promised us that was your intention. Now you are just senile and deaf.”
And then, Bennington's son said that some Linkin Park fans have been "cruel, unusual and aggressive" towards him after his comments (via Billboard ).
Jaime spoke about wanting to attend the group's comeback show in Los Angeles this Wednesday, the 11th, despite disagreeing with Armstrong's involvement. However, he claimed that Linkin Park did not offer him a ticket.
“I haven’t heard anything from the band itself, which isn’t unexpected,” he said. “They didn’t come to me with this announcement, they didn’t ask me how I felt.”
“There are a lot of people who don’t like me. There are a lot of people saying really horrible things to me right now. To be honest, I don’t think I would feel safe going to a general admission show […] I don’t know who would be in charge of responding to me aggressively. The audience itself might actually be unsafe for me.”
Jaime explained: “I want to go [to the show]. There are reasons why I might not be allowed into the venue, which I can’t talk about right now, but unless they explicitly tell me, ‘You can’t go for this reason,’ I want to go.”
“Many of these Linkin Park fans who will be present have been cruel, unusual, and aggressive. You’re telling me to kill myself, you’re telling me I’m horrible, you’re telling me my father doesn’t appreciate me […] What are you talking about? You didn’t care when he died. If you did, you would understand what the problem is. You would understand why all of this is wrong.”
In another post shared by Bixler-Zavala last week, he wrote: "I told you, motherfucker."
Emily Armstrong's response to the criticism
Armstrong later issued a statement regarding the Materson controversy , writing: “I wanted to clarify something that happened some time ago. Several years ago, I was asked to support someone I considered a friend at a court hearing, and I went to an initial hearing as an observer. Soon after, I realized I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I always try to see the good in people, and I misjudged him. I haven’t spoken to him since then. Unimaginable details came to light, and he was later found guilty. To be as clear as possible: I do not tolerate abuse or violence against women, and I have empathy for the victims of these crimes.”
Armstrong recently spoke about the process of joining Linkin Park, and what it meant to follow in Bennington's footsteps. "I took myself out of the equation and just looked at it as what could be a good combination?" she said. "And I was stuck with that question for a while as I was coming in and singing and stuff."
"That's when the thoughts started to come, like, 'I mean, this would be so much fun. This could work.' And then it's like, oh my God, holy shit. When you start having that moment, it's like, wow…"
New Linkin Park album
During the live stream, the band also announced that they will be releasing the album From Zero, their first in seven years and without Chester. The album will be available on November 15th and its first single has already been released. Click here to learn more.
