EAGLES OF DEATH METAL FRONTMAN ATTACKS FLORIDA SHOOTING SURVIVOR IN INSTAGRAM MELTDOWN


26th March 2018



eagles of death metal

Eagles Of Death Metal co-founder and frontman Jesse Hughes has lashed out at the 'March For Our Lives' protest against gun violence which took place over American this past weekend.

Hughes made five posts on Instagram, three of which were deleted, and directly attacked Emma González, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting in Florida and now an activist and advocate for gun control.

Hughes is himself a shooting survivor as Eagles Of Death Metal's concert at the Bataclan in Paris on Friday 13th November 2015 was targeted by terrorists. Gunmen carried out a mass shooting and took hostages, leading to a stand-off with police.

The attackers were shot or blew themselves up when police raided the theatre. Eighty-nine people died as a result of the attack which left many more injured.

Hughes' first deleted post was a Photoshopped image of González tearing a copy of the US Constitution in half, a parody of a photo from a Teen Vogue photoshoot picturing González tearing a gun range target in two. Hughes described González as:

"The Awful Face Of Treason..... survivor of Nothing.... Lover of Treason..... enjoy your little moment..... it's about to End.... #stupidity #hatersofliberty #loversofsatan #borntolose #2ndamendment."

The second deleted post was an illustration of a bottle of pills labelled "Hard to Swallow", followed by an image of a hand holding three pills, each bearing a caption: "Our guns aren't going anywhere", "There are only 2 genders", and "Donald Trump will be your president for 7 more years". In Hughes' post he promised "moronic dingdong headed losers" that he would report any threats made against him to the FBI.

The third deleted post was a photograph of a pro-second amendment patch, captioned:

"I can tell you right now that the actions of these misguided youth and evil communists is making me feel terrified... with every broadcast of a willing and complicit press I feel the wall of security that the Constitution provides being taken down bit by bit."

Here are the two posts which have not been deleted:

Obviously....The best thing to do to combat chronic abusers and disregarders of the law(like the law against Murder) is to........pass another Law!.....Genius!!!...... but before we pass this law we're going to denigrate the memory and curse ourselves by exploiting the death of 16 of our fellow students for a few Facebook likes and some media attention....and look how well civil rights abuses as it concerns firearms helped to protect me and my friends in Paris!!!!! This almost sounds like the plan of like a kid maybe like a high school student....!. Oh wait that's right.... The Whitney Houston song about letting the children lead the way wasn't actually had operating paradigm for life.....And when the truth don't line up with your bullshit narrative just hold your breath and stamp your feet and refused to except it.... then take multiple days off of school playing hooky at the expense of 16 of your classmates blood....!.... it might be funny if it wasn't so pathetic and disgusting......As the survivor of a mass shooting I can tell you from first-hand experience that all of you protesting and taking days off from school insult the memory of those who were killed and abuse and insult me and every other lover of liberty by your every action.....Long Live Rock'n'Roll..... and may everyone of these disgusting vile abusers of the dead live as long as possible so they can have the maximum amount of time to endure their shame....and be Cursed....

A post shared by Jesse Hughes (@fatherbadass) on





Why the three deleted posts were removed is unclear but one theory is that they were removed because of the user comments. Fans, or should that be former-fans, attacked Hughes vociferously and accused him of taking crystal meth, being weak and much, much worse. One follower, instakorbinator, wrote:

"If he was an asshole gun nut like Nugent or Cherrie Currie or any number of douchey so called rockstars he would just be another douche. But he's a douche that cheats on his girlfriend..constantly. In some cases he tries to cheat but gets denied then goes ahead and LIES about it anyway. Then he plays a show where dozens are murdered in cold blood by terrorists w automatic weapons. Mind you he runs off the stage and doesn't even look for his girlfriend. Then...he cries crocodile tears to @viceland about the shooting and how sad he is for the victims...and then. Then he insults millions of students protesting simply for their right to be safe in school. Because they don't want to be shot at...LIKE HE WAS. He should at least have some empathy and understanding being a fucking lucky survivor himself. If we're bitches" for thinking this man is a true POS (which he is)...then cool. Because I actually am one hell of a bitch #loser "

eagles of death metal

Hughes claimed in a March 2016 interview with Fox Business Channel that some members of the Bataclan security staff were complicit in the November 2015 attack. He later apologised for his comments after condemnation from French officials and the owners of the Bataclan.

In May 2016, Hughes repeated the claim in an interview with Gavin McInnes for Taki's Magazine, suggesting that some Muslim security staff knew the attack was planned and helped the attackers enter the Bataclan or did not show up for work. He also claimed that he saw Muslims celebrating in the street on the night of the attack and argued that fear of offending Muslims was making Europe more vulnerable to Islamist terrorism.

Eagles Of Death Metal were dropped from the line-up of the Rock en Seine festival for those comments.

Hughes said in an interview with Vice Magazine after the Bataclan attack:

"I cannot wait to get back to Paris. I cannot wait to play. I want to be the first band that plays the Bataclan when it opens back up because I was there when it went silent for a minute. Our friends went there to see rock'n'roll and died. I want to go back there and live."

Eagles Of Death Metal did return to Paris, on February 16th 2016 to play the Olympia, and again at the reopening of the Bataclan on 12th November 2016, a year before the one-year anniversary of the attack. Hughes and an unnamed band member were reportedly denied entry by staff due to the frontman's previous comments, however this was denied by the band's manager, even though Hughes was in Paris at the time.

A documentary directed by Colin Hanks about Eagles Of Death Metal and the aftermath of the Bataclan attack, 'Eagles Of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends)', premiered in February 2017 on HBO.

The Guardian have approached Hughes's representatives for comment about the five Instagram posts.